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April 30, 1971 - Image 13

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1971-04-30

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Friday, April 30, 1971-13

Remnant of Jewish Life in Caribbean
Must Be Preserved, Historian Warns

WALTHAM, Mass. — Roots of
the 300-year-old existence of the
Jewish community in the Carib-
bean may be completely lost un-
less restored by American Jews
and their institutions.
Dr. Malcolm Stern, a historian
and genealogist, told the 69th an-
nual meeting of the American
Jewish Historical Society that
synagogues, cemeteries, monu-
ments and other markings of early
Jewish life in the Caribbean are
"rapidly disappearing." He said,
"Only the enthusiastic interest of
American Jews in finding and re-
storing these lost Caribbean com-
munities can bring about their sur-
vival or revival."
Rabbi Stern, curator of the
Jewish Historical Society, observ-
ed that discoveries of ancient
Jewish sites were being made by
Jewish families vacationing in the
islands or purchasing homes in the
area.
He called for a study by the
society to determine the funds
needed for immediate and long-
rang restoration.
Dr. Stern told the meeting
•about one such restoration which
took place recently, when Mr.
and Mrs. Robert Abrahams of
Philadelphia purchased an old
plantation on the island of Nevis
as a vacation home.
In the island's capital city of
Charlestown, the couple discover-
ed the remains of a 300-year-old
Jewish cemetery with grave-
stones engraved in Portuguese,
Hebrew and English, and the ruins
of a synagogue.
According to Dr. Stern, Alexan-
der Hamilton received his elem-
entary education at this synago-
gue, since his illegitimate birth
prevented his attendance at the
Anglican school.
At a cost of $4,000 to the Phila-
delphia family, the cemetery has
been restored and this February
was rededicated by Rabbi Stern.
The original Jewish settlers in
the Caribbean were fleeing from
conquest by the Portuguese of
Brazil. They were shipwrecked on
the then Spanish island of Jam-
aica, and 23 of them eventually
made their way to New Amster-
dam in 1654, becoming the original
Jewish settlers in North America.
At the time of the American
Revolution, there were 2,000 Jews
on the island of Curacao, more
than in the original 13 states.
Rabbi Stern indicated that with-
in the last century Jews have
,mainly considered the Caribbean a
"temporary stop-over." He said,
"those that remained were most-
ly without communal or rabbinic
leadership and either assimilated
or moved elsewhere."
Curacao, containing the oldest
synagogue in the western hemi-
'here, has 800 Jews remaining
2. the island. Century-old syna-
gogues can also be found on St.
Thomas in the Virgin Islands
and in Kingston, Jamaica. The
latter island, which once had a
dozen communities with synago-
gues and cemeteries, has 500
Jews left.
Growing Jewish life can be
found in both St. Thomas and
Puerto Rico. The land develop-
ment in the Virgin Islands has in-
creased St. Thomas' Jewish popu-
lation to 200 families and many
Jewish vacation visitors. Two of
the islands' governors were Jew-
ish. The synagogue, physically pat-
terned after the old Sephardic
style with its pulpit in the center
and a sawdust-covered floor, uses
Reform Judaism's Union Prayer-
book.
The arrival of American indus-
try nri

Puerto Rico to 2,000 Jews. San
Juan has two synagogues, a Con-
servative and a Reform congrega-
tion. Cuba at one time had five
congregations and 10,000 Jews.
The Castro government's elimina-
tion of private industry reduced
the community to 1,500.
Refugees fleeing from Nazi Ger-
many settled on many Caribbean
islands. During World War II,
Trinidad had 500 Jewish families,
with only 10 remaining today. In
1815, the neighboring island of
Barbados had 219 Jews; a large
number of refugees from Nazism
came in the 1940s but have left,
leaving only 15 Jews on the island.
The French Caribbean island of
Martinique had 96 Jews in 1683,
but two years later laws against
the Jews drove them out. Although
an occasional Jewish trader land-
ed on the island, no Jewish com-
munity was ever established since
then.
Very few Jews remain in
Haiti. In St. Maarten and St.
Eustatia the only remains of
Jewish existence are ruins of old
synagogues. In the latter part of
the 17th Century, Jewish mer-
chants and planters flourished
on the northern coast of Haiti
in Cap Haitien. A slave rebellion
in the 1790s drove out all the
whites, and Jews fled the island,
returning only today as vaca-
tioners.

Israel, NYU Cooperate
to Present First Graduate
Music Education Program

NEW YORK—Israel's first grad-
uate program in music education
will be initiated this summer by
the division of music education
of the New York University School
of Education, in cooperation with
the Rubin Academy of Music in
Jerusalem.

remember

mother's
day

The Samuel Rubin Foundation
has presented a special grant of
$12,000 to the NYU Division of
Music Education to launch the
program and finance the first
summer.

The program is open to 10 Israeli
and 10 American graduate music
students, tuition-free, and will
lead to a master of arts degree
from New York University, said
Dr. Jerrold Ross, head of the divi-
sion of music education, who will
administer the program.

It will require three summers of
study at Rubin Academy in Jeru-
salem and one on the NYU cam-
pus, he said. To qualify, candi-
dates must meet NYU admission
standards.

For information, write Dr. Ross,
at Room 777, Education Building,
NYU School of Education, New
York 10003.

Rabbi Stern told the Historical
Society members, "we must not
only perpetuate Jewish life in the
western hemisphere, but make
certain that our part in the devel-
opment of this continent is not lost
for future generations."

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