THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

'Spanish language through their
knowledge of Ladino, the Spanish that
had been spoken in Spain by their an-
cestors in the 15th Century, was an
obvious advantage for them. Their
;'need to conceal their Jewishness was
l ; forced upon them by the discriminat-
ory practices of that time.
Judith Laiken Elkin in her book,

Jews of the Latin American Republics,
explains how Jews came to settle in
Cuba. Substantial numbers of
Sephardic Jews fought in the final war
i ll of Cuban independence (The
Spanish-American War) in 1898.
Cuban efforts to achieve independence
were initiated much earlier (1868).
Many American Jews supported Jose
Marti who led the Cuban liberation
movement. By 1900 there were about
I 300 Jewish families in Cuba. Many
were American Jews who settled on
the island as veteran soldiers or
) businessmen. However, it was not
until the Cuban constitution of 1902
established freedom of religion that
Jews could worship in public and build
synagogues.
In the early years of the 20th cen-
tury there was intensive immigration
to Cuba from Turkey and Syria. By
1916, there were 4,000 Sephardim in
Havana but man, left for the United
- States. by 1919, only 2,000 Jews were
estimated to be in Cuba. Still it was
enough to sustain two synagogues: the
H Sephardic, Temple Shevet Achim, and
a Reform Synagogue established by
the American Jews.

1,

Temple Shevet Achim was the
first synagoguge I visited in Havana.
It is mentioned in Paula di Pema's
travel guide to Cuba and is located in
Habana Veijo, the old city of Havana.
This part of the city has narrow
cobble-stoned streets which give it a
distinct old-world flavor. On the
corner of Santa Clara and Inquisitador
Streets is a patch of green, a small
park, incongruous among the wall of
houses and narrow streets. Next to the
park at Inquistador 407 is a building
like all the others one passes while
walking through Old Havana. Above
the door is a faded sign in Hebrew and
Spanish indicating that this is the
Temple Union Hebrea Chevet-Achim.
After having been in Cuba for a
week, I broke away from the group I
was with to seek out this synagogue. It
was a Saturday afternoon and I had no
great expectaticn of finding anyone
there. To my surprise the door was
open, leading to a flight of steps. Up-
stairs there were signs of activity. It
was an unusual and exciting feeling I
experienced as I hesitatingly began to
walk up those stairs. I had the
foresight to bring a small, knitted kip-
pah with me. As I approached the top
of the stairs, an elderly gentleman mo-
tioned me away and, in Spanish which
I could not understand but didn't have
to, he clearly indicated that I was not
welcome. But I explained quickly, in a
combination of English-Yiddish-
Spanish, that I was a Jew from
America. The curiosity that greeted

me equalled my own.
About 16 men, the youngest in his
70s, sat around a table. Leading the
group in prayers was Solomon ben
Daniel Susy. He is a most impressive-
looking person. His beard is full and
white and he has the bearing of a pat-
riarch. He was distracted by me only to
the extent that he did not see that my
head was covered. He instructed one of
the gorup to obtain a "sombrero" for
me. (I had never thought of a
"yamulke" as a form of "sombrero.")
I had come upon the congregation
while it was observing the custom of
seudah shlishit, the traditional third
meal of the Sabbath that is eaten in
the late afternoon between Mincha
and Maariv. The meal consisted of
bread and cheese, and a bottle of what
tasted like a cola drink, called "re-
fresco" in Cuba.
I had a long talk with Solomon ben
Daniel Susy while we waited for the
Maariv service to begin. He had come
to Cuba from Algeria in the early
1930s when he was 34 years old and
had worked in Cuba as a shamasn and
mohel. He lamented the fact that there
was no longer a rabbi in Cuba and that
he could no longer function as a mohel
or shochet. He received a pension from
the government and a small stipend
from the synagogue. The latter sus-
tained itself by converting the outer
portion of the building into a beer hall.
The Cuban government gave it per-
mission to do this in order to sustain
itself. There is no provision for gov-
ernment support of synagogues.
The other members of this con-
gregation were not all of Sephardic
background. Some were from Eastern
Europe and spoke Yiddish fluently.
One vigorous gentleman spoke
English very well. He introduced him-
self as Eliazer and offered to take me to
another synagogue, Adath Israel, in
Old Havana, located nearby. It was a

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The entrance to Patronato Synagogue, built
in 1953 in Havanna's newer, more
fashionable Vedado section.

41

newer building with an Asheknazi
congregation. The president of the
congregation was a retired dentist who
had been trained in Germany before
the war. A young couple with their
child was present at their seudah
shlishit. This synagogue was estab-
lished in 1925 and was the focal point
of the eastern European Jews who
began immigrating to Cuba in 1920.
Eastern European Jews did not
come to Cuba in large numbers until
the period between the two World
Wars. Most of these Jews were, in fact,
in transit to the United States. In
1925, though, the immigration laws
changed. They became more stringent
and restrictive, leaving thousands of
Jews in Cuba with no chance of coming
to the United States. Still, Jews con-
tinued to emigrate to Cuba. Once
there, they met with great difficulties,
including discrimination and poverty.
But through hard work, the Jews of
Cuba gradually improved their lot.
They started out as peddlers and ended
up as storekeepers and businessmen.
They formed various societies, such as
the Centro Israelata, and even a com-
munist oriented, Kultur Fareyn. A li-
brary was built, clinics were estab-
lished, welfare assistance was pro-
vided and schools were organized.
Buidling the Patronata de la Casa de la
Communidad Hebrea de Cuba on one
of the main thoroughfares of the city
was an expression of their success in
overcoming the difficulties they
encountered in their new land. It also
signaled an acceptance and affection
for this county and a desire to establish
themselves in Cuba on a permanent
basis.
On another Saturday I visited the
well-known Patronato Synagogue on
Linea Avenida in the newer, more
fashionable section of Havana known
as Vedado. It is called the Patronato

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Friday, June 28, 1985

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The front of the Jewish community center
now occupied by the Cuban Ministry of
Culture.