A Jewish Renaissance in Castro's Cuba

Judaism, Spring, 2000 by Dana Evan Kaplan

American Jews established the United Hebrew Congregation, also called Temple Beth Israel, in Vedado. Its founders were looking for a Reform service similar to what they had known. By the 1940s, however, substantial numbers of German-speaking Central European refugees had joined the congregation. Both Americans and Germans wanted to have services in their own languages, so there were English-language services one week and German-language services the next. In 1914, a group of Turkish Jews founded Khevet Achim, the Sephardic congregation in Old Havana. The synagogue was closed recently because of structural problems as well as the dwindling size of the congregation. Most of the Jews had long ago moved to the suburbs; the Ashlienazi synagogue still in Old Havana is more than sufficient to serve the remaining Jews.

Most of the Sephardic Jews who had belonged to Khevet Achim have joined the Centro Sefaradi in Vedado. Nevertheless, Jewish communal leaders are eager to make sure Khevet Achim remains within the Jewish community and is not turned over to the government. Joseph Levy of the Centro Sefaradi in Vedado told me that he hopes the building will be turned into a museum of Cuban Jewish life. Of the Khevet Achim building Levy said, "Inside these walls the Sephardic Jews lived the best years of their lives." [5] But now the Centro Sefaradi is the sole remaining Sephardic congregation in Havana.

The Patronato, also located in Vedado, is the most active of the three remaining congregations and attracts most of the younger people. In 1956, the Orthodox Synagogue Adath Israel built a new building in Old Havana. After the 1959 Revolution, all building projects ended and most Jews made plans to emigrate. Today the congregations are rebuilding their organizations as well as their synagogues.

The Decline of the Jewish Community after the Revolution

The Havana Jewish community was becoming quite prosperous when Fidel Castro seized power on New Year's Day 1959. Since most Jews were store owners and small businessmen, the government's policy of confiscating private property--and particularly businesses--hurt them badly. The community began a precipitous decline. Following the Revolution, and the accompanying upheaval, the majority of the Jewish community emigrated from Cuba, including most of the community's leaders. Since Florida was only ninety miles away, this was a logical destination for many. Some went to Puerto Rico, which had many of the same topological as well as cultural features as Cuba and was an American protectorate and American territory. Others went to Mexico, Venezuela, other Central and South American countries, or Spain. Some made Aliyah to Israel.

By 1963 about 70% of the Jewish population had left Because of the government's negative view of religious affiliation, many of the Jews that remained in the Havana area avoided any active affiliation. According to one estimate, by 1990 only 305 identifiable Jewish families remained in Cuba. The Jewish community in Havana was able to keep three of its five congregations running, but the level of activity was extremely low and the participants were mostly elderly. Until the early 1990s, the last Bar Mitzvah was celebrated in Havana in 1973 and the last Jewish wedding in 1976. [6]