Jewish Cubans, Cuban Jews, or Cubans of Jewish heritage, have lived on the island of Cuba for centuries. Some Cubans trace Jewish ancestry to Marranos who fled the Spanish Inquisition, though few of these practice Judaism today. There was significant Jewish immigration to Cuba in the first half of the 20th century. Like others, many Jews left Cuba for the United States after the coming of Fidel Castro, and today there is a large community in South Florida. In modern Cuba there are many communities of Middle Eastern descent, including Jewish and Lebanese populations.
The Cuban Coordinating Commission, the official governmental unit for the Jewish Community, recognized 1201 persons as Jewish in 2001 for the purpose of distributing Passover food.
In February 2007 the New York Times estimated that there are about 1,500 known Jews living in Cuba, most of them (about 1,100) living in Havana. They also state that Cuba has only one kosher butcher shop on the entire island and not a single rabbi, until recently. They now have a Rabbi that is based in one of the Synagogues in Havana and often encourages visiting Jews to give Tzedakah for the Jewish Cubans and for Israel. The article adds that "This small Jewish presence is in stark contrast to the bustling community that existed before Fidel Castro came to power in 1959. In those days, there were 15,000 Jews and five synagogues in Havana alone". Adath Israel is the only Orthodox synagogue in Cuba. On December 2006, the Cuban Jewish community celebrated its 100th anniversary.
Famous quotes containing the words history of the, history of, history, jews and/or cuba:
“Three million of such stones would be needed before the work was done. Three million stones of an average weight of 5,000 pounds, every stone cut precisely to fit into its destined place in the great pyramid. From the quarries they pulled the stones across the desert to the banks of the Nile. Never in the history of the world had so great a task been performed. Their faith gave them strength, and their joy gave them song.”
—William Faulkner (1897–1962)
“The history of a soldier’s wound beguiles the pain of it.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)
“Books of natural history aim commonly to be hasty schedules, or inventories of God’s property, by some clerk. They do not in the least teach the divine view of nature, but the popular view, or rather the popular method of studying nature, and make haste to conduct the persevering pupil only into that dilemma where the professors always dwell.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles...”
—Bible: New Testament, 1 Corinthians 1:22-3.
“Education is a necessity, it helps to understand life. Like that compagnero in Cuba who talked about politics, back when they were on strike. He knew many things, that hijo de puta, and he unraveled the most confusing situations in a marvelous way. You could see each point in front of you on the line of his reasoning like rinsed laundry set up to dry; he explained things to you so clearly that you could grasp it like a good hunk of bread with your hand.”
—Jacques Roumain (1907–1945)