FEBRUARY 1 • 2024 | 19
J
N
J
ewish communities are found on vir-
tually every continent — some small
in numbers but surviving despite
difficult environmental circumstances. One
of these small Jewish communities is locat-
ed in Cuba where the Jewish population is
estimated to have reached its peak of 24,000
individuals during the 1920s.
Today, fewer than 1,000 Jews live on the
island, mainly in Havana. While the Cuban
economy is in shambles, this small com-
munity perseveres, buoyed by assistance
from the Joint Distribution Committee,
B’nai B’rith, other Jewish organizations and
Cuban American Jews.
Recently, 28 Jewish Detroiters and
Chicago-area residents visited Havana
through JTraveler. They were led by Miriam
Levinson, a native Cuban whose family left
the country in 1959. A Chicago-area res-
ident, she has been to Cuba “hundreds of
times.
” She took the group to secular sites,
Ashkenazi and Sephardic synagogues, and
the Jewish cemetery in Havana. “The gov-
ernments have been on the outs for years,
but the citizens welcome Americans,
” she
said.
A BRIEF HISTORY
The earliest Jewish immigrants are believed
to have arrived in Cuba with the first
Spanish explorers in the western hemi-
sphere. Some were reportedly conversos
— Jews who converted to Catholicism to
escape death during the Inquisition. Later,
Jews from South America moved to Cuba
to escape repression in Catholic countries.
During the 20th century, Turkish Jews
emigrated to Cuba as the Ottoman Empire
broke up. Later, European Jews who were
unable to gain entry to the U.S. found ref-
uge in Cuba before World War II. Then,
some American Jews moved to Cuba to
work for American-owned businesses.
During the 1940s and ’50s, Havana was
a tourist destination popular for its casinos
and nightlife. But when Fidel Castro and
the Communist Party took control in 1959,
many farms and businesses were national-
ized. American businesses closed, and the
majority of Cuban Jews immigrated to the
U.S. or Israel.
TOURISM IS LIMITED
Tourism was opened up during the Obama
administration and then was restricted
under former President Trump. “Before
COVID, many groups came and brought
help,
” said Rick Stoler of Bloomfield
Township, who participated in the JTraveler
tour. Today, American tourists are limited
to 12 categories, including family visits, reli-
gious and humanitarian trips.
“Cuba is going through a terrible eco-
nomic crisis. Some people (Jewish Cubans)
want to leave. Their relatives send them
money,
” Levinson says.
According to the JTraveler group, the
country’s poor economic status was very
evident. “I was surprised by the poverty.
People were sleeping on the streets. The
Jewish cemetery is in horrible condition.
The architecture is beautiful but crumbling,
”
said Linda Forman of Commerce. Food is
rationed; the group’s hotel lacked eggs for
breakfast.
The economic decline is due partly to
the American embargo of Cuban trade,
the chaotic situation in Venezuela, which
previously helped Cuba, and the decline of
its sugar industry due to previous govern-
SHARI S. COHEN
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
“THE PEOPLE OF
CUBA ARE VERY
RESPECTFUL OF THE
JEWISH COMMUNITY.
THERE IS NO
DISCRIMINATION OR
ANTISEMITISM.”
— MIRIAM LEVINSON
continued on page 21
Neighborhood near the
Ashkenazi synagogue
RICK STOLER