Spirituality

It is More Than
Just a Place to Live...

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Cubans of all colors attend religious services at the Luyano Presbyterian Church.

• Complete Kosher Meal Service
• Personal Care Assistance
•Medication Administration
•Health Clinic
•Safe, Secure Environment
• Daily, Shabbat, and Holiday
Services in our Synagogue
•Recreational Programs
•Adult Educational Classes
• Laundry, Housekeeping,
Transportation -
• Beauty 1 Barber Shop
•Nosh Nook and Gift Shop
•Respite and Guest Rooms

for application, contact:

Tracey Proghovnick, m.s.w., c.s.w.

Director of Admissions

available evenings for appointments

Fleischman Residence I Blumberg Plaza

6710 W. Maple Road, West Bloomfield

located on the Eugene & Marcia Applebaum
Jewish Community Campus

248-661-2999

www.jhas.org

a service of

5/17
2002

60

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Jewish Home & Aging Services

service on the radio on the first Sunday
of each month.
And, though once discouraged, the
Afro-Cuban religion of Santeria — saint
worship — actually enjoys government
backing. Foreign visitors can consult
with Santeria priests for dollars.
Dworin was among those from vari-
ous religions invited to meet with the
pope and Cuban leader Fidel Castro. It
was at that session, as Dworin tells it,
that she asked Castro why he had never
visited the Patronato Synagogue. "I was
never invited," he reportedly told her.
She promptly asked him to an
upcoming Chanukah celebration, a holi-
day he said he knew nothing about.
Known for his speed-reading and amaz-
ing memory, by the time Castro showed
up at the party, it was obvious he had
educated himself. "He asked a lot of
questions." He also gave one of his
shorter speeches, Dworin said, just two
hours long.

Interfaith Harmony

The churches band together, Valentin
told us. The Cuban Council of
Churches includes and enjoys "very good
relations with Jewish groups, especially
in Havana."
As with other houses of worship in
Cuba, Luyano Presbyterian is "growing a
lot," Valentin said.
Situated in a humble neighborhood
of mainly Afro-Cubans, the membership
numbers 165 with another 100 frequent
visitors. Donations from groups that the
Everetts take to Cuba have helped restore
the church building.
Likewise, the Patronato, two other
Havana synagogues, and small Jewish
followings in remote areas of Cuba,
receive help from the worldwide Jewish
community. Strong support comes from
Cuban Jews living in Miami. "I call
them 'the Jewbans,'" Dworin joked.
"The Canadian Jewish Congress

sends us so much matzah for Passover,
that we have it for the whole year," said
Dr. Jose Miller, congregation president.
"When we have bread, we say, 'Why is
this night different from all other
nights?' he quipped.
Indeed, when Dr. Beck donated a
suitcase full of prescription drugs that he
had brought, Dworin added them to
their well-stocked shelves. "We have the
best doctors in the world," she said, "but
our pharmacy is still in Detroit."
Cuba's 21 medical schools graduate
4,000 doctors each year, but medicine,
like most imported goods, are hard to
come by. "We distribute them to Jews
and non-Jews," Dworin said. "If we have
too much, we deliver them to the hospi-
tals."
About 400 Jewish faMilies (1,200
people) live in Havana and 100 families
in the rest of the country, she said. As
many as 10,000 Jews left after the
Cuban Revolution and another 500 were
allowed to leave for Israel in the mid-
'90s. But with the more permissive atti-
tude toward religion and through inter-
marriage (98 percent of Cuban Jews
intermarry), the Jewish religion is again
growing.
Jose Raul Correa and Dora Canetti,
and their pre-teen son, were among the
young families at the service we attend-
ed. They joined us at the congregational
Shabbat dinner that followed. Both are
chemists at the University of Havana.
Dora is Jewish, and though it was
unclear whether Jose had converted, he
is active in the congregation.
Although the synagogues have no
rabbis, Jewish communities abroad spon-
sor a rotation of visiting rabbis and rab-
binical students. A guest rabbi and mohel
(ritual circumciser) recently performed
50 conversions.
In Cuba, you make do. "We didn't
have a inikvah [ritual bath]," Dworin
explained. "We went to the beach." El