At JC3, Judaism Blossoms Among the Expats of San Miguel

Published May 17, 2023

by Dan Freedman

Marvin Berk was wrapping up a successful career as an award-winning graphic designer in New York when his partner (now husband) brought him to San Miguel de Allende for his birthday ten years ago.

“I fell in love with it,” he recalls now. Mexico’s expat mecca 180 miles northwest of Mexico City “seduced” them with “huge blue open skies, colonial architecture and the feeling of being grounded in history,” Berk says. “This was a place to enjoy, relax, sit on rooftops under open skies, and talk to people in cafes. It had everything that appeals to us…New York is so much about money.”

And there was one extra add-on not typically found in expat nirvanas—the Jewish Cultural & Community Center, known locally as JC3. JC3 is not a synagogue. There is no rabbi. Rather, it strives to be all things to all Jews, whether tourist, full-time retiree, or local Mexican convert. Berk found welcome at the center and today, at age 73, is on its board of directors and manages all its communications, including the website and newsletters. “The Jewish community in San Miguel offers an opportunity to grow your social connections and your mind,” he says.

Much like the town in which it’s located, JC3 is freewheeling, nonconformist and unabashedly unaffiliated. Attending services is only one item on the menu of activities. “There are plenty of Jews here but not all are interested in services,” says Dan Lessner, the principal founder of JC3 who estimates the number of Jews in San Miguel at around 1,100. Lessner himself teaches Hebrew at JC3 and conducts Conservative (“traditional/egalitarian”) services in Hebrew, Spanish and English. Special programming might include poetry readings, Cuban-style dance instruction, a panel discussion on antisemitism, yoga or a Yiddish film festival.

The brick-and-mortar building, formerly a warehouse for a food-distribution charity, has been open since 2014. Services on Shabbat and holidays take place there (and via Zoom, occasionally). Torah study is broken down into English and Spanish groups. One boy recently became a bar mitzvah, and five more children are in the pipeline. JC3 maintains the only Jewish cemetery in the region. There are about 45,000 Jews in all of Mexico, about 75 percent in Mexico City.

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