"Making it" in Israel? Latino Undocumented Migrant Workers in the Holy Land

Abstract

Every Saturday evening, hundreds of persons gather at a religious service in a Catholic church where a weekly mass is conducted in Spanish by a Franciscan priest. Many of the churchgoers actively participate, reading passages from the New Testament, singing in the choir, or playing instruments. Melodies of Latin American folk music are played intermittently, breaking the solemnity of the religious ritual. Two important aspects make this event unique: first, that it takes place in the old city of Jaffa, Israel, and second, it is especially organized by the church in order to attend to the needs of an emergent non-Jewish, undocumented Latino community in the city of Tel Aviv.