An Island Called Home: Returning to Jewish Cuba

Chapter 36: Departures

[ 235 ] 36 departures The Jewish community in Cuba is elusive. Inhabited by people who can turn into ghosts overnight. You never know who among the Jews still there— people that on the surface appear to be standing with two feet solidly planted on Cuban soil—have filled out papers to leave for Israel. Most of the time you find out someone is definitely leaving on the eve of their departure. Often you don’t know until they have crossed over. I guess people worry about being jinxed, or about the evil eye. Then the moment comes and they get on a plane for the first time in their lives and cross the ocean, hoping for a better future in the Jewish homeland. Nothing is easy in Cuba and it takes a while for the travel papers to be in order. Departure dates are postponed two and three times. In the meantime, people wait and wait, dare not speak of their worries, continue to report to the synagogues to show that their Jewish allegiance is sincere, and try to learn another couple of words of Hebrew. The months drag on with nothing to do, for people are forced to quit their jobs or their studies once they announce that their departure is imminent. I watched an older couple wait for their exit permits to arrive. Their three children had already left for Israel. After the meal following religious services at the Centro Sefardí, the father of the family would yawn, put up his feet, and take a nap. Maybe those naps made the waiting go by faster. Eventually he and his wife also left. And so while American Jews continue to go to Cuba on “missions” in hopes Behar_3P-04.qxd:Behar design 7/30/07 2:33 PM Page 235 of communing with Jews still on the island, the Jewish community is continually losing members who are choosing to leave their native land for Israel. With the much-heralded Jewish rebirth that has taken place on the island, why do so many Jews choose to leave Cuba? For the same reasons that Cubans in general leave. They leave because of their condition as Cubans. Cuba’s Jews are able to leave as Jews, but they don’t leave because they are being persecuted for their Jewish identity or faith. Jewish hatred is nonexistent in Cuba. The majority of Jews in Cuba are no different from most Cubans—they too have never traveled outside of Cuba, never flown on a plane. Although socialized health care, education, and food rationing assure all Cubans an austere yet decent life, those who leave want to live by the norms that exist in the developed world. Memories of underdevelopment have not gone away in Cuba: housing is limited, salaries are pitifully low, there is no freedom to travel. Add to that the frequent electrical blackouts, food shortages, the lack of reliable transportation, and the control of information, including barriers on surfing the Internet. But I don’t want to give the impression that Jews in Cuba only have social and economic motivations for immigrating to Israel.There is a strong spiritual dimension to the exodus as well. The Jewish renaissance on the island is real, very real, and it is the force behind many of the departures. As Cuba’s Jews have become knowledgeable about their own identity, whether as returning Jews or converts, they have also become better able to see the limitations of being Jewish in Cuba. Not only is the Jewish community on the island minuscule, there are few resources for Jewish learning and intellectual growth, and the survival of the community depends on donations from the Joint Distribution Committee , B’nai Brith, and other international Jewish organizations, as well as personal donations—or tzedaka—from foreign Jews. For the last fifteen years, Jews in Cuba have been rubbing shoulders with Jewish Americans and Jewish Latin Americans and Jewish Canadians, who suddenly appear for a few days and just as suddenly disappear, well-meaning people who make generous offers of aid. I think these encounters created a culture of longing among Cuba’s Jews as they were brought back into the fold of the mainstream Jewish community. Although grateful for all the big-hearted An Island Called Home [ 236 ] Behar_3P-04.qxd:Behar design 7/30/07 2:33 PM Page 236 Departures [ 237 ] expressions of charity, seeing these privileged...