A syntax beyond: transgression and popular religion in a Jewish Argentine case

Abstract

The present article approaches the study of a popular sacredness case in the Jewish community of Tucumán (Argentina), selected due to the fact that it reveals an alternative sacredness very much influenced by similar practices coming from the non- Jewish context, always prone to reverend “miraculous souls” and legitimize the category of popular saint. At the same time, other similar situations into the Jewish tradition are revised pointing out the importance that Malka Saltz’s cult possesses since it reveals the incorporation of elements proper to the visual imagery of Argentine Northwest constituting an unusual phenomenon of crossbreeding because of the concrete process of cultural insertion of the Jewish community in the general context of the region.