THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS -- Friday, April 24, 1959-34
Best Wishes to AU
On the Holiday Season
Jews in Cuba, Small in Number Play Important Role
,
in Cuba's business and in-
dustry.
(Copyright, 1959, JTA, Inc.)
The most bloody war to be
L,
Cuba is but 90-odd miles
fought anywhere in the world
from the southernmost tip of
this year took place in Cuba.
Florida. Although only one
Maccabees Building
A revolution launched by a
Cuban
in
500
is
Jewish,
the
TE 1-3524
group of intellectuals led by
Jews play an important role
Fidel Castro succeeded in oust-
ing the corrupt regime of Batis-
ta. The war was marked by
Greetings on Passover
terror and violence reminiscent
of the Nazi era in Eastern
Europe. Yet Cuban Jews, an
exposed minority, found that
neither side in the fratricide
PRINTING — OFFSET
injected anti-Semitism.
3939 BELVUE
Israel was among the first
nations to recognize the new
government. Conscious of the
help Cuba extended to Israel
in 1948, Israel sent consider-
Best Wishes to the Community
able quantity of blood plasma
to the Cuban Red Cross.
For a Happy Passover
Jews active in the revo-
lutionary movement were
mainly university students
and young professional men.
670 E. Woodbridge Ave.
Jewish leadership sought to
avoid giving an impression
that the Jewish community
as such was involved with
either side.
Greetings and Best Wishes on Passover
For the first time in the his-
tory of Cuba a Jew was named
a member of the Cabinet. He
is Enrique Oltuski, a member
of the Castro movement. He
FO 6-2200
19197 SHERWOOD
is a son of immigrant par-
ents from Poland who estab-
lished a shoe factory in Santa
Clara. An engineer and grad-
uate of the University of Mi-
Passover Best Wishes
ami, Oltuski at 29 years of
age ,is Minister of Communi-
cations in the new government.
Bearded like Biblical proh-
Serving Superb Food—Bar B-Q - Steaks - Chops - Beer and Wine
ets, the Castro army looked
like the Haganah of pre-inde-
390 W. McNICHOLS (6 Mile and 2nd)
pendence Israel. A few were
TO 8-8386
Sephardic Jewish youths from
Santa Clara, Oriente, Santiago
■
■
■
de Cuba, and Camaguey. They
■
■
proudly wore the Mezzuzah.
Best Wishes for A Happy Holiday
The Zionist movement is
strong in Cuba. Since Israel's
establishment, over 200 Jews
from Cuba have settled in Is-
rael. Cuba's Jews feel their
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loyalty to Judaism and Zionism
TY 6-4800
4255 McGRAW
in no way lessens their pa-
triotism as Cubans.
■
■
Jews lived in Cuba before
explorers set foot on the
territory now known as the
Happy Passover to Our Friends & Patrons
United States. Columbus, on
his first trip, had two Mar-
ranos (secret Jews) in his
crew. They were Alonso de la
Calle and Luis de Torres.
KE 4-0222
The latter was Columbus' in-
20823 West 7 Mile Rd.
terpreter and knew Hebrew
among other tongues. Reli-
able historians agree that de
Torres settled in Cuba be-
fore the end of the 15th
Best 'Wishes for A Happy Passover
Century and died there. He
is credited with the introduc-
tion of tobacco into Europe.
At the end of the 16th Cen-
"You'll Find It at Refiner's
tury many Marrano Jewish fam-
ilies fled the Spanish Inquisi-
LU 1-0307
845 Schaefer Rd., Nr. Tireman
tion to Cuba. But persecution
j- ---w,r---z..r----z"- ---t.r---vv---u-----vn----tr--w--u----zr•r- ^s----:A, followed them to the lush
tropical isle. A branch of the
Cartagena Inquisition opened
Best Wishes for A Happy Holiday
offices in Havana. Religious
persecution stopped in 1783.
The Inquisition laws in Cuba
were abrogated in 1823.
Fresh and Smoked Meats
It was not until 1881 that
Gratiot Central Market, 1429 Gratiot
Spain formally permitted Jews
to reside in Spain. The right
WO 3-5085
Shop No. 6
to hold Jewish services out-
side private homes was not
granted until Cuba's emancipa-
Greetings of the Season
tion from Spain in 1898. Cuba's
"George Washington," the lib-
eral Jose Marti, had Jewish
friends and lieutenants. He saw
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to its that Cuban Jewry re-
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ceived equality when the re-
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public was established.
Despite the Inquisition, it
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City Airport - Bay 13
seems that many Jews en-
tered Cuba during the pe-
riod of formal restrictions.
Holiday Greetings
Cuban historians credit Her-
nando de Castro, a Marrano,
with introducing sugar cane
to Cuba in the 17th Century.
ICE CREAM
Sugar is Cuba's most impor-
See Wesley Elbing
tant export.
Historical records show that
Detroit, Michigan
8920 Lyndon
Cuba's Marranos were a virile
By MILTON FRIEDMAN
GLENGARY
PRESS
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A Happy Passover to Our Friends & Patrons
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R
mittance to the United States.
In order to aid Jewish set-
tlement in Cuba, a Jewish
Committee for Cuba was
formed in New York. The
noted American Jewish leader,
Louis Marshall, was chairman.
The National Council of Jew-
ish Women and the Hebrew
Immigrant Aid Society partici-
pated. Many thousands of dol-
lars in loans were issued.
The American committee en-
couraged Jews to move into
the interior where greater op-
portunities existed. A number
of the most prosperous leaders
of Cuban Jewry started their
careers in this way. The re-
sult was mutually advantageous
to both themselves and their
adopted land.
A gradual merger of Se-
phardic and Ashkenazi Jews
took place. Jewish institu-
tions grew in size and num-
ber. The Colegio Herzl, a
Sephardic Jewish school
founded in 1914, added Yid-
dish to its curriculum and
w e 1 c o in e-d non-Shephardic
children. This came as a re-
sult, in part, of American
financial support.
In the late 1930's, a Jewish
Merchants Association was
formed to combat anti-Semitic
propaganda spread by Axis
agents. In recent years, de-
spite political turmoil in . Cuba,
Jews have enjoyed good com-
munity relations.
Today a healthy and grow-
ing Jewish cultural life exists.
Synagogue attendance is con-
siderably higher than in the
United States. As children of
Sephardic and Polish Jewish
parentage married, a new in-
terest in Judaism and Jew-
ish history emerged.
•∎• .1•1111•• 0.111111.0
PIONEER DRY CLEANING
L
lot. When the Church began
burning Jews at the stake
in Cuba, Marranos financed
French and British buccaneers
to war on Spanish galleons ply-
ing the West Indies trade
routes. Some of the privateer
ships carried the names of
Jewish women killed by the
Inquisitors.
There is evidence that even
some avowed Jews managed
somehow to survive the Inqui-
sition in Cuba. A beautiful
actress who died in Paris in
1869 was Delores de Dios-
Porta, from Cuba, who openly
professed the Jewish faith.
Cuban Marranos disap-
peared as a group. But many
of Havana's most distin-
guished Catholic families to-
day proudly acknowledge an-
cestors of Marrano origin.
When Teddy Roosevelt's
Rough Hiders came to Cuba
in 1898, Jews were in their
ranks. Some, like Sgt. Frank
Steinhardt, remained. He be-
came the founder of Havana's
trolley car system. American
Jews were enthralled by
Cuba's beauty and mild cli-
mate.
Shortly after World War I a
mistaken idea travelled across
war-torn Eastern Europe, espe-
cially among Jews. It was that
immigration to the United
States was "easier" via Cuba
than directly from Europe.
Cuban entry laws were then
lax. In 1924 over 5,000 Jews,
mostly from Poland, entered
Cuba. In 1929 more than 7,000
came. Of these 94 percent were
under 40 and two-thirds were
adventurous young men.
Some moved from Cuba to
other Latin American countries.
Others managed to gain ad-
NURSERY & FLOWER SHOP
7
CHARLES A. RUDOLPH
seitv,
giw.
WESLEY'S GOLD MEDAL
Best Wishes for A Happy Passover
To Our Friends and Patrons
SUPERIOR SHELL SERVICE
Jerry Peacock, Prop.
VE 5-9666
14801 West 7 Mile, at Lauder
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17 25607 Coolidge
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To All Our Friends and Patrons
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13303 W. 7 Mile
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Open Mondays through Saturdays
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Greetings on the Passover Season
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4915 Leafdale
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