Prominent Israeli government officials have expressed the
fear that the publicity given the aliya from Cuba is liable
to limit its continuation. Until now, approximately 400
Cubans have immigrated to Israel, and apparently 300 more
hope to arrive. The immigrants are currently residing in
absorption centers in Beersheva, Chadera and Ashkelon. Torah
figures note that some of them are not Jewish.
The release of this information by the British Daily
Telegraph, which publicly disclosed the aliya from Cuba
to Israel, occupied the Israeli media early this week. Until
now the story was kept quiet, even though the Cuban
immigrants had already arrived in Israel in small groups as
early as two years ago. Government officials worried that the
publicity may negatively affect the immigration of 300 more
Cuban immigrants.
The earliest exit from Cuba was actually some five years ago.
Visas were given via the Canadian embassy in Israel, since
Cuba does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, and the
immigrants were transferred to France, from where they
reached Israel. All along, the Jewish community of Cuba had
not suffered from antisemitism, and was making aliya to
Israel just due to the difficult financial situation in Cuba
and the better opportunities in Israel. The immigrants arrive
in Israel empty-handed, and until today they are living in
absorption centers. When interviewed last week, they sounded
very bitter, and claimed that the Israeli authorities are not
helping them to leave the absorption centers or to find work,
though several have regular jobs.
Torah figures in Ashkelon who are working with the immigrants
noted widespread activities among the immigrants are being
conducted. They stressed, though, that some of the immigrants
are not Jews.
Rabbi Yisroel Marin of Lev L'Achim's Ashkelon branch gives
shiurim as the absorption center in Spanish on a
regular basis. He says that a family recently asked him to
arrange for a bris mila for the males, but when he
checked out the family's background it became clear that they
were not Jewish. Another family, however, recently had
brissim in Yerushalayim. Rabbi Marin believes that the
Jewish identity of the Cuban immigrants is a social time
bomb.
According to the report in the London Sunday
Telegraph, the move on Cuba's part is linked to the
country's dire economic situation and the regime's attempt to
improve its image in Washington.
In the past President Castro was one of the most anti-Israel
leaders in the world. Cuba has no formal ties with the Jewish
state, having broken off diplomatic relations after the 1973
Yom Kippur War. Cuba has also supported Arab terrorists and
Castro praised Yasser Arafat.
Many Cuban Jews are descendants of Polish and Russian Jews
who fled Czarist pogroms at the turn of the century. About
60% are Sephardim originally from Turkey. There are four
shuls currently in operation, 2 Ashkenazic and 2
Sephardic. Three of these are in Havana. There is only one
school with 40 students. The Mexican community sent
siddurim with Spanish translations several years ago,
to help those who were rediscovering their Judaism.
A rabbi from Guadalajara, Mexico visits the community every
few months, and a mohel from Panama also comes from
time to time.
Thousands managed to escape the country after the Communists
came to power about 40 years ago, most going to the United
States. Before Castro came to power, there were said to be
about 15,000 Jews in Cuba.
About 1,500 remained in Cuba before this wave of immigration,
most of them concentrated in Havana and Santiago. Several
hundred of these are said to want to leave the country for
Israel.
A leading Israeli expert on Cuba, Margalit Bejarano, of the
Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said: "There has been much
less antisemitism in Cuba compared with the Communist regimes
in east Europe. Castro has never denied Jews kosher food or
the right to organize cultural activities, although any
expressions of religion by Jews or Christians prevented their
entry to university and to a range of professions in
Cuba."
On Yom Kippur every Jew is allowed to take off from work with
pay. One of the synagogues has a kosher kitchen.
Official relations with the Jewish community have become more
friendly in recent months. Last Chanukah, President Castro
attended an Israel cultural evening at the Patronato
synagogue in Havana--the largest of the country's four
remaining synagogues.
The fourth synagogue was in fact opened just about a year
ago, the first synagogue to open since the revolution. It is
in Camaguay, Cuba's third largest city. The Jews there were
not active as a community until a few years ago, hiding their
Jewish identity. A young woman whose father is Jewish
discovered her Jewish roots. Her father had never told her.
She converted, learned Hebrew, and revived the whole
community.
With the fall of the Communist block, President Castro, 73,
has been forced to modify his previous anti-Zionist stance.
The economic situation in Cuba is now said to be desperate.
The regime is billions of dollars in debt and many people's
ration books fail to provide enough goods to get them through
even half the month.
America further tightened its long-time economic blockade in
1996, and many Cubans regard the lifting of sanctions as the
country's most pressing concern.
Cuba and Israel are interested in establishing diplomatic
ties but, according to one Israeli diplomat, Israel is
holding back for fear of angering the Americans.
