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