An Island Called Home: Returning to Jewish Cuba

Chapter 23: Traces

23 traces Upon the Jews still in Cuba has fallen the responsibility of preserving the scattered bits and pieces of Jewish life, the archaeological relics that have survived. At times willingly, at times reluctantly, they have become memory keepers. They are the keepers of the mezuzahs that still cling to the thresholds of Jewish houses in Cuba. They are the keepers of the Torahs brought from Turkey, which are conserved in the Centro Sefaradí in Havana. Their breastplates are beautiful works of filigree silver, with crowns and mini-arks that have little doors that open, revealing tiny Torahs inside. They are the keepers of the prayer books in the synagogue, which speak to God in Hebrew and Spanish. [ 163 ] Behar_3P-03.qxd:Behar design 7/30/07 2:24 PM Page 163 They are the keepers of old family prayer books that have turned brown with age and smell like rain. They are the keepers of the wine cups, Shabbat candle holders, and hand-washing jugs left by Jews who have died or immigrated. Yacob Berezniak holds on to all these objects that were given to his father, Abraham Berezniak, who passed away. They are the keepers of the leather chairs with embossed Jewish stars and Lion of Judah designs made for a bar mitzvah celebrated at the Centro Sefaradí on the eve of the family’s departure from Cuba. The chairs have remained there ever since, waiting for the family’s return, and are only used during religious services. They are the keepers of the ornamental box that has always sat on the same shelf at the Adath Israel synagogue, where Elda Sevy Botton , a social worker, attends services every morning. An Island Called Home [ 164 ] Behar_3P-03.qxd:Behar design 7/30/07 2:24 PM Page 164 Matilde Farín Behar keeps a menorah that has been in her family for as long as she can remember. It belonged to her father, who was the last Jew to go to synagogue in Santiago de Cuba before it shut down in 1979. He was old by then and walked with a cane, but after the loss of the synagogue Matilde says he aged even more quickly. The oud, a Middle Eastern instrument brought by a Sephardic Jewish immigrant from Turkey, is preserved by his niece Matilde Elí and her children. Sephardic songs in Ladino were sung with the oud as accompaniment. This oud is the only one that survives on the island. It is considered a national treasure and cannot be taken out of Cuba. Traces remain, as well, of old Jewish stores, now the property of the state. Casa Jaime, a store owned by a Jew in Camagüey, preserves the original marble-tiled floor. Jaime—the Spanish version of Chaim—became a common name among Cuba’s Jews. [ 165 ] Traces Behar_3P-03.qxd:Behar design 7/30/07 2:24 PM Page 165 And traces remain of customs that can be presented to the camera, but will not be passed on to the next generation. It is Leon Baly Levy, in a distant seaside town, who still remembers, “We came from Turkey to Campechuela on the 20th of June 1952. I was twelve years old. In Turkey we didn’t use candles to welcome the Shabbat. We lit the oil in a bowl. This is how we used to welcome the Shabbat in Turkey.” How does one classify a trace such as this: an electricity bill that still arrives in the name of a Jew, Aron Wolfoicz, who has been gone from Cuba for half a century? Who knows if he is living or dead? Having the right piece of paper, as Jews know all too well, can be a matter of life or death. Even during the upheavals of the Revolution , Jews in Cuba held on to family passports and documents of Jewish belonging. This immigration document, her youthful picture pinched by a rusty paper clip, belongs to Raquel Rodríguez Rodríguez, who immigrated to Cuba from Istanbul and settled in Remedios, a sleepy town with two churches and no other Jews midway between Cienfuegos and Caibarién. An Island Called Home [ 166 ] [ 166 ] Behar_3P-03.qxd:Behar design 7/30/07 2:24 PM Page 166 Amidst a table piled with ketubahs and old citizenship papers, Raquel Rodríguez...