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Jewish Cubans, Cuban Jews, or Cubans of Jewish heritage, have lived in the nation of
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
for centuries. Some
Cubans Cubans ( es, Cubanos) are people born in Cuba and people with Cuban citizenship. Cuba is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic, religious and national backgrounds. Racial and ethnic groups Census The population of Cuba wa ...
trace Jewish ancestry to '' Marranos'' (forced converts to Christianity) who came as colonists, though few of these practice
Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...
today. The majority of Cuban Jews are descended from European Jews who immigrated in the early 20th century. More than 24,000
Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
lived in Cuba in 1924, and still more immigrated to the country in the 1930s. Following the 1959 communist revolution, 94% of the country's Jews emigrated, most of them to the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. In 2007 an estimated 1,500 known Jewish Cubans remained in the country, overwhelmingly located in
Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.
. Several hundred have since immigrated to
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. Because South Florida has large Jewish and Cuban populations, a significant number of people in the area claim descent from American Jews and Cuban-American gentiles. Americans of Jewish and Cuban descent (whether or not their ancestors were Cuban Jews specifically) sometimes refer to themselves as ''Jubans'' (or ''Jewbans'' or ''Jewbanos''), a portmanteau of the words "Jew" and "Cuban".


Before the Cuban Revolution

Cuban Jewish history possibly begins in 1492 with the arrival of the second expedition of
Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
to the Americas. Columbus was accompanied on that voyage by interpreter Luis de Torres, who may have been a Jewish converso. Some Jews fleeing Portuguese-ruled Brazil in the 17th century settled in Cuba and despite inquisitions and persecutions, Jewish merchants based in Cuba engaged in flourishing international trade in the 17th and 18th centuries. However, the contemporary Jewish community does not represent a line of continuity with Jews who settled in Cuba in the 17th and 18th centuries. It began to form after Cuba gained independence from Spain following the
Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (cloc ...
of 1898. At the end of the 19th century, American Jewish businessmen and war veterans began to settle on the island. They engaged in import and export as well as sugar and tobacco farming. In 1904, they founded Union Hebrew Congregation and in 1906 a Jewish cemetery was established. In the early 20th century,
Sephardi Jewish Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...
immigrants from the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
began to arrive and in 1914, they established their own community organization, Union Hebrea Shevet Achim. Most of the Sephardi immigrants arrived poor and turned to peddling or managed to build small businesses. In 1920, Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe began arriving. By 1924 there were 24,000 Jews in Cuba, with many working in its garment industry. For most Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, Cuba was merely a transit point on their way to the United States. Most of those who arrived between 1920 and 1923 had left by 1925. However, the passage of the
Immigration Act of 1924 The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson–Reed Act, including the Asian Exclusion Act and National Origins Act (), was a United States federal law that prevented immigration from Asia and set quotas on the number of immigrants from the Eastern ...
, which severely curtailed Jewish immigration to the United States, left thousands of Jewish immigrants now unable to proceed to the United States, and as a result they settled permanently in Cuba, a good deal residing in
Parque Central, Havana The Parque Central, Havana is one of the best known and central sites of the city of Havana, Cuba. It is located between Prado, Neptuno, Zulueta and San José streets, and San Rafael Boulevard. Among the buildings surrounding the park are Gran Te ...
. Throughout the rest of the 1920s and 1930s, thousands of Jewish immigrants continued to enter Cuba from Europe, largely as a result of
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
and fascist persecution (see also
MS St. Louis MS ''St. Louis'' was a diesel-powered passenger ship properly referred to with the prefix MS or MV, built by the Bremer Vulkan shipyards in Bremen for ''HAPAG'', better known in English as the Hamburg America Line. The ship was named after t ...
). The Jewish immigrants from Europe came during an economic downturn and found it difficult to integrate into a country lacking industry and inundated with cheap labor from Haiti and many turned to peddling to make ends meet. Jewish refugees from Antwerp introduced the diamond polishing industry to Cuba during World War II, establishing 24 plants in one year. With the growth of the Jewish community, various Jewish communal organizations emerged. The main communal body of the Eastern European Jewish immigrants was the Centro Israelita, and during the 1920s it came to offer a range of activities and services from welfare assistance, a clinic, a library, a language school, a student center, and a drama club. The Cuban Jewish community split into three sectors: Americans, Sephardim, and Ashkenazim, each with its own cemetery and communal activities. The Jews' economic situation gradually improved and by 1959 the Jewish working class had nearly disappeared.


After the Cuban Revolution

In the aftermath of the revolution, nearly 95% of the Jewish population left Cuba for the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, many settling in
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
. By September 1960, as many as 3,000 Jews had already departed Cuba and approximately 1,500 remained by 1997. Additionally, between the years 1948 and 1997, 661 Cuban Jews immigrated to
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and in 1999 another 400 Cuban Jews departed for Israel as well. Many Jews were initially sympathetic to the
Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in co ...
of 1959 under Fidel Castro, seeing the change in leadership as an opportunity to rid Cuba of the corruption that was associated with the dictatorship of
Fulgencio Batista Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (; ; born Rubén Zaldívar, January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who served as the elected president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944 and as its U.S.-backed military dictator ...
. In the early stages of the revolution, it was not evident that Castro's plans were to ally Cuba with the communist bloc.Kaplan, Dana. E. “Fleeing the Revolution: The Exodus of Cuban Jewry in the Early 1960s.” ''Cuban Studies'' 36 (2005): 129–56. As Castro's plans became clear, Jewish Cubans who had emigrated from Eastern and Central Europe became increasingly concerned with the impending revolution, as a result of their prior experience with religious intolerance associated with Leninist policies and Bolshevik Russia.Weinreb, Amelia Rosenberg. 2017. “Jewish Cuba's Contact Zone: Transnational Encounters in Havana's Adath Israel Synagogue: Jewish Cuba's Contact Zone.” ''The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology'' 22 (2): 254–75. https://doi.org/10.1111/jlca.12258. During the earliest days of the revolution, the most paramount concern for the Jewish Cuban population was the nationalization of industry and agriculture and the laws which supported it. These measures include the first and second Agrarian Reform Laws, Law 851, and the First Urban Reform Law. The Agrarian Reform Laws of 1959 and 1963 caused strife amongst Jewish landowners and farmers, as the government began eradicating all landed estates and foreign-owned land, in addition to nationalizing all properties and buildings exceeding 67 hectares. Law 851 sparked the nationalization of business and industry within Cuba, beginning with foreign-owned businesses. It entailed the expropriation of Cuban property, not owned by leaders of a previous government, for the first time in Cuba's history. This ranged from large to medium sized businesses, including distilleries, factories, and department stores. Finally, the First Urban Reform Law stripped Jews of their property rental business by turning ownership to tenants and creating longterm rent-free leases. This law also made it illegal to privately rent or sublet properties. Measures such as the second Urban reform law permitted the Cuban government to seize the property and assets of those who immigrated to the island. In a 2011 survey of Jews living in Cuba, one respondent described the experience of religious Jews during the socio-political environment of the post-Revolutionary period: "People were not persecuted because they practiced religion, but if you wanted to be a member of the Communist Party, or go to university, it was necessary not to be a believer. The same happened to Catholics and to those of other faiths." The language used to describe Jews included, “Judio” for children who were not baptized, “Turquista”, and "Polaco" or "Polaquito" which were synonymous with Jew, regardless of their country of origin. Lastly, during their emigration from Cuba to Israel, Jews were marked as "repatriado" (repatriated) on their passport rather than "gusanos" (worms) as an emigration distinction. This was meant to indicate that those Jews departing for Israel to be “repatriated to their home country”, though few Jews who immigrated to Cuba were actually Israeli. In 1959, the government declared that the revolution would be a socialist movement and that Cuba would become an atheist state. This shunning of religion helped shaped the religious identity of Jews who remained in Cuba, as well as the exiles who immigrated to the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
,
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, and other areas throughout North, South, and
Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
. The Jewish Cuban identity was morphed by a variety of revolutionary influences, but particularly the bias against those who practiced faith. Those who remained in Cuba either shied away from participation in the revolution or chose to abandon their Jewish identity altogether in order to do the opposite. Up until 1992 when Cuba had adjusted its constitution to reflect that the country was no longer an atheist state but rather secular or "la apertura", Jews had largely discarded their uniquely Jewish practices and abandoned community gathering at places such as El Patrono community center and Chevet Ahim synagogue. For many Cuban Jews, eating
Matzo Matzah or matzo ( he, מַצָּה, translit=maṣṣā'','' pl. matzot or Ashk. matzos) is an unleavened flatbread that is part of Jewish cuisine and forms an integral element of the Passover festival, during which '' chametz'' ( leaven ...
, an unleavened bread eaten during the celebration of
Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the first month of Aviv, or spring. ...
, was the only practice they had maintained. Three of the ten original members of the Cuban Communist Party were Jewish including
Fabio Grobart Fabio Grobart (born Abraham Grobart, August 30, 1905 – 22 October 1994; also known as Antonio Blanco and Abraham Simjovitch) was a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary and politician who played an important role in the 1959 Cuban Revolution that over ...
, Manuel (Stolik) Novigrod, and
Enrique Oltuski Enrique Oltuski Osacki (18 October 1930 — 16 December 2012) was a Cuban government minister who participated in the Cuban Revolution. Biography Oltuski was born in the city of Kobryn, then within the boundaries of Poland, currently part of ...
. Fabio Grobart, whose original name was Abraham Simchowitz, immigrated from Poland to Cuba at the age of 19 and brought along with him knowledge of the radical leftist movements from Eastern Europe. He joined the Cuban Communist Party in 1925 and was one of Castro's closest constituents as a member of the party's Central Committee. He represented the party in communist ideology, as he had the ability to translate the readings of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels from Russian and German to Spanish. Manuel (Stolik) Novigrod was born into a family of Jewish communists and fought directly alongside Castro against Bautista's forces in the Sierra Maestra Mountains. One year after his parents' immigration from Poland,
Enrique Oltuski Enrique Oltuski Osacki (18 October 1930 — 16 December 2012) was a Cuban government minister who participated in the Cuban Revolution. Biography Oltuski was born in the city of Kobryn, then within the boundaries of Poland, currently part of ...
was born in Cuba in 1930. His collaboration with
Ernesto "Che" Guevara Ernesto Che Guevara (; 14 June 1928The date of birth recorded on /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ernesto_Guevara_Acta_de_Nacimiento.jpg his birth certificatewas 14 June 1928, although one tertiary source, (Julia Constenla, quoted ...
while representing Las Villas as its leader of the 26th of July Movement enabled him to ascend to highest-ranking Jew in the revolutionary government. Following the revolution, Oltuski was relied on, acting as the vice minister of the fishing industry, as well as working with the Ministry of Culture in order to maintain a historical account of the revolution. In February 2007 ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' estimated that there were about 1,500 known Jews living in Cuba, most of them (about 1,100) living in
Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.
. Cuba has one kosher butcher shop on the entire island. For a time it had no
rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
, but by 2007, one was based in a Havana synagogue. He often encourages visiting Jewish peoples to give
tzedakah ''Tzedakah'' or ''Ṣedaqah'' ( he, צדקה ) is a Hebrew word meaning "righteousness", but commonly used to signify '' charity''. This concept of "charity" differs from the modern Western understanding of "charity". The latter is typically u ...
(charity) for the Jewish Cubans and for Israel. Alan Gross traveled to Cuba to help the small Jewish community, but he was detained in Cuba from 2009 to 2014. Some Jewish Americans originally from Cuba are also fierce critics of the Cuban government, such as former Representative
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (; born Ileana Carmen Ros y Adato, July 15, 1952) is a politician and lobbyist from Miami, Florida, who represented from 1989 to 2019. By the end of her tenure, she was the most senior U.S. Representative from Florida. She ...
. Israel also continues to have an embargo against Cuba. Adath Israel is the only nominally Orthodox synagogue remaining in Cuba. There are two other synagogues in Havana, in addition to a few other Cuban cities. In December 2006, the Cuban Jewish community celebrated its 100th anniversary."Cuba"
Jewish Virtual Library
In 1999, actor and playwright Frank Speiser debuted his one-man play ''Jewbano'' about growing up Jewish and Cuban in
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
. Although primarily used in a positive sense, some confusion has arisen in the past where "Jewban" has been misinterpreted as an ethnic slur, or as a political statement (i.e. suggesting the "ban" of Jews). In 2003 the
Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) is a statutorily established cabinet agency of Florida government. In 1969, under Governor Claude Kirk, the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Public Safety were m ...
attempted to withdraw a "JEWBAN"
vanity plate A vanity plate or personalized plate (United States and Canada); prestige plate, private number plate, cherished plate or personalised registration (United Kingdom); personalised plate (Australia, New Zealand, and United Kingdom) or custom pla ...
which had previously been issued to Tabares Gomer, a Jewish Cuban, arguing that the plate could be considered antisemitic. The department later relented and permitted Gomer to keep the license plate."State Lets Cuban Jew Keep 'Jewban' License Plate", ''The Orlando Sentinel'' (March 15, 2003), p. B5.


See also

*
Cuba–Israel relations Cuba–Israel refers to the current and historical relations between Cuba and Israel. Both nations have not had official diplomatic relations since 1973. Israel maintains an Interest Section in the Canadian embassy in Havana. Cuba is currently the ...
*'' The Believers: Stories from Jewish Havana'' *'' Abraham and Eugenia: Stories from Jewish Cuba'' * B'nai B'rith Cuba


References


Further reading

*Jay Levinson, ''Jewish Community of Cuba: The Golden Years, 1905–1958'', Nashville, TN: Westview Publishing Company, 2005.


External links


"The Jews of Cuba" website

CHAI Missions, Jewish Missions to Cuba"Havana"
''Encyclopaedia Judaica''

''Hadassah Magazine''

''Miami Herald'', 14 March 2003
Sally Craigin, "Mambo mensch: Frank Speiser’s cross-cultural memoir" (''Jewbano'')
''Boston Phoenix,'' July 11–17, 2003

The Miami Herald'', 15 July 2009

''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'', 5 December 2010 {{North America in topic, History of the Jews in