An Island Called Home: Returning to Jewish Cuba

Chapter 18: Mr. Fisher’s Twice-Yearly Gifts

[ 141 ] 18 mr. fisher’s twice-yearly gifts It’s Thursday and I take Salomón Bonte Ledierman’s suggestion and go to Adath Israel to witness the visit of Mr. Fisher from Canada. The synagogue is Orthodox and the men and the women sit separately. Religious services begin early and at nine a.m. the pews are already almost all full. Usually there are plenty of seats on a weekday morning. I see people praying , but most are half-dozing, distractedly looking around. I choose a pew in the back, joining two old women who are deep in conversation . One whispers to the other, “All these people heard that el señor Fisher would be here today. That’s why they’ve come.” While Mr. Fisher leads services on the men’s side, the women in my pew turn to me and ask who I am. I tell them I’m from Cuba, but I live in the United States. I tell them I’ve come to visit, to learn about the Jews in Cuba. Then I ask who they are. Berta Esquenazi Benador, sitting next to me, tells me her name and gives me her address. She watches as I write the information in my notepad. Then she says, “I don’t have a phone. I was a fool not to install it when I could have. At the time I thought I was leaving the country.” I turn and ask the woman to Berta’s left what her name is. She takes my pad and writes: Dinah Elena Nudelfuden Perelmuter. She gives me her address and the phone number of a neighbor. Behar_3P-02.qxd:Behar design 7/30/07 2:22 PM Page 141 Berta says, “Elena was born in Poland. I was born in Sagua La Grande. My family came from Turkey. From Istanbul.” “Do you always attend services at this synagogue?” I ask. Berta nods. “I come to ask God to give me health and to give my son health. I like to come here because they help us a lot. Here they give you more than at the other synagogues. They give us breakfast every day. And a meal on Friday and Saturday. They attend to us very well. On Mother’s Day they gave us a set of glasses and silverware.They give us money too.The older people get ten dollars every month.They give us clothes, shoes, everything. Every month they give us vegetable oil, ten cans of tomato sauce, three cans of tuna fish, two cans of sardines, black olives and green olives, two packages of chickpeas, two packages of lentils, two packages of pinto beans, and two packages of white beans. They give us all those things. It’s more than they give at the Patronato. And a nice breakfast they serve us. I’ve been coming here for ten years and they keep helping me just the same.” Elena reaches inside a plastic bag and pulls out an ancient passport. She passes it to me and says, “I’m going to be eighty-four in September. This is my Polish passport, the one I came to Cuba with.” It is worn and frayed at the edges but the photograph of her and her mother is still clear and shows the fear and uncertainty in their eyes. I admire the passport, learning that she always carries it with her, and ask if I can photograph it. “Yes,” she says. “Afterward, not now.” “Quiet,” a woman orders from the pew in front of us. “The Torahs are coming!” The procession of men carrying the Torahs quickly passes by and Berta and Elena squeeze around me to kiss them, following the Jewish tradition of showing devotion to a sacred object. When the service is over, Elena says, “Now el señor Fisher will give out the things he brought for us. He gives us underwear. He gives us deodorant. First he gives things to the men. Then to the women. He comes in January and in May. Twice a year.” Sure enough, just as Elena says, the tall and grinning Mr. Fisher comes An Island Called Home [ 142 ] Behar_3P-02.qxd:Behar design 7/30/07 2:22 PM Page 142 sauntering over to the women’s side, the men following. The men take their seats in the front pews and the women move to the back. The...