54
Friday, June 28, 1985
THE QETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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bruce m. weiss
BACKGROUND
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26325 Twelve Mile Rd.
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Jews Of Cuba
Behind Gabe's Fruits
In The Mayfair Shops
Continued from Page 41
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El Templo del Centro Hebreo Safardi de Cuba in Vedado, Havana, is
used by the symphony orchestra. A small Hebrew school nearby is
used for services.
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Synagogue because of the do-
nations which various
"patrons" gave to build the
synagogue. It was completed
in 1953 and was attached to
the Centro Hebraeu. The lat-
ter was the "Jewish Commu-
nity Center" of Havana. It is
currently occupied by the
Ministry of Culture of the
Cuban government. They pay
the synagogue about $1,000 a
month for its use. This is the
major source of support for the
Patronato Synagogue. The
people I met there were all of
European origin and spoke
Yiddish fluently. At the
Patronato I met Adela Dwo-
rin, the part-time secretary of
the Casa de la Communidad
Hebrea de Cuba, and spoke to
some of the men who attend
services at the Patronato
Synagogue. Less than a mi-
nyan was present during the
Sabbath services.
'It was here that I learned
that about 750 Jews are regis-
tered in Havana. Another 200
live outside of this city. I was
told that only the older Jews
come to the synagogues. The
younger Jewish people are
mostly professional and since
everyone works for the gov-
ernment, they find it difficult
to get away to attend services.
There is also a disincentive to
affiliating closely with the
synagogue since religious af-
filiations are discouraged by
the government. This is not
an expression of anti-
Semitism as much as a nega-
tive attitude to religion of any
kind — or a resentment
toward any group or dogma
that was not an integral part
of the socialist order of Cuba.
A similar situation exists
among Catholic and Protes-
tant groups.
Only on a few holidays
when meals are served do
some of the younger Jews
come to the synagogue:
Otherwise, they were rarel
seen. There are no formal
prograffis available for th.
education of the Jewish
youth.
When I visited the other
Sephardic synagogue of
Havana, El Templo del Cen--
tro Hebreo Sefardi de Cuba it
Vedado, I was told that the
auhorities disbanded the He-
brew Day School that had
been housed there. The heaci)
of the school had come from.
Jerusalem many years before.
He was now 87 years old and
led the services at the
Sephardic Synagogue in Ved--),
ado. The children who had<1
been brought to the Hebrew'l
Day School from various parts-'
of the city were ordered toil,
attend local schools and no`
longer had access to a Jewish
education.
I was impressed with some`
of the features of the Sabbath
services at the Sephardic
Synagogue in Vedado. By
talking to those who were
present I learned that many of
them had come from Turkey.
Some were Ashkenazim mar-
ried to Sephardim. Others
were not Jewish but, because
of intermarriage or disaffec-
tion with their religion, joined_;
the congregation without
formal conversion to Judaism.
In addition to the two
synagogues in Habana Viejo
and the two in Vedada that I
visited, there was a fifth one
that had been closed. This was
the congregation of Reform
Jews who came from the
United States. Its congrega-
tion had gradually di-
minished and the building
had been abandoned. I visited_
it and, through the dirty win-
dows, saw the benches and ta-