the Jews Anti-Israel but not anti-Semitic, the m CGntrewersiai dictator gives the Cuban DANA EVAN KAPLAN aniel Esquinazi lives on a narrow street Israel, a nearby Ashkenazi synagogue, unselfcon­ in Old Havana that shows the wear of sciously chanting prayers to the Sephardic D45 years of communism: Potholes gape melodies he learned as a boy. But alone here with like deep wounds and discarded fruit gives off an us, he doesn't want to talk about religion—or pol­ overpowering stench despite the harbor breeze. itics. Instead he is anxious to show us the posters The buildings too, are rotting, their Caribbean of a famous 1930s Latin American tango singer pinks and blues faded, and some are leaning on that are plastered all over the crumbling walls of wooden braces. his room. "These are my photos of Carlos We stop in front of one and climb several sto­ Gardel," he explains in Spanish. Then he pulls ries of treacherous stairs to a room added on to aside a blanket revealing his treasure—a stack of the top of a roof—known as a cuarteria. Es­ 78 rpm tango records. quinazi—retired dockworker, tango lover, and "The record player has been broken for Sephardic Jew—greets us at the door. My inter­ years," he says enigmatically. Watching his face I preter and I squeeze into the tiny space in which am reminded of something writer Guillermo he has lived for 54 years, alone since his wife died. Cabrera Infante, himself a Cuban exile, once A bed sits in the middle of the room and he said: "In Cuba, dreams are the only private prop­ gestures for us to sit in some old chairs that are erty. On the other hand, nightmares are all scattered around it. nationalized." Wrinkled and animated, Esquinazi's attired in It's often hard to know what Esquinazi and the a ratty shirt and formal pants that look like they many other Cuban Jews I have met during my were purchased 50 years ago, when he came to several trips to this tropical island of 11 million Cuba from Turkey. In those days Old Havana was people are really minking. As he proudly shows an immigrant beacon, much like New York's me his private bathroom—a rarity for an Old Lower East Side, and home to large, vibrant Havana cuarteria—I can't help but wonder what Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewish communities, he and other Jewish Cubans feel about living for Today it is home to the poor, among them sever­ 45 years in the same apartment filled with the al hundred aged Jews like Esquinazi who dogged­ crumbling pre-revolution furniture, unsure ly held onto their religion during decades of whether they should risk saying what is on their official disfavor. minds, and dependent on American dollars to I've seen Esquinazi on the bimah at Adath increase their standard of hving. AUGUST 2004 / MOMENT 37 What do they really think of Fidel only available in dollars, the average opened small shops in central Havana. Castro? Do they view him as a highly- Cuban Jew supplements his or her Still others found work with the Ameri­ charismatic despot who commandeered income with gifts from relatives abroad. can corporations that dominated the their country, one which according to the Others receive help from international Cuban economy. Even Meyer Lansky 2004 report of the U.N. Human Rights Jewish organizations. Some receive and fellow Jewish gangsters from Miami Commission ranks among the most money from the thousands of Jewish made an appearance, lured by the lucra­ egregious violators of human rights in tourists who visit Cuba each year from tive casino and hotel industries. the world? Or do they see him as a Canada, and Latin and Central America In Cuba, Jews weren't confronted by benevolent socialist who overthrew a and—despite travel restrictions—the the deeply-ingrained, virulent anti-Semi­ corrupt regime in the hopes of building United States. tism that they were accustomed to in a Utopian society? After all, when During my visits to the island, just 90 Europe. Still, they were barred from Fidel—who turns 77 on August 13— miles off the coast of Florida, I have joining Havana's exclusive clubs, leading came to power, he was immensely pop­ observed that some Cuban Jews are them to create their own institutions— ular. Even today—after many exhausting embarrassed to take money from visitors among diem the Jewish beach club, Casi­ years of economic hard times, political while others aggressively demand it. no Deportivo, today occupied by the spies, and no freedom of the press— Some, like Esquinazi, don't ask but are Cuban equivalent of the FBI. There is, many Cubans privately express frustra­ glad to accept. Before we head back however, an egregious historical blot on tion with the government but still believe down the steep wooden stairs, I hand the Cuban record: In 1939, the govern­ that Fidel is a good man. him a twenty-dollar bill. He thanks me ment of President Federico Laredo Bru Whatever his opinions are, it is clear profusely. refused to allow the refugee passengers that Esquinazi is a poor man living on a of the cruise liner St. Louis to disembark meager pension. Elderly Jews make up ccording to popular lore, Jews in Cuba, forcing them to return to about one third of Cuba's Jewish com­ arrived in Cuba with Columbus. Europe and certain death. munity, which numbers between 800 AThree, all of them converts to Nevertheless, life was good for Cuban and 1,500, a fraction of the 12,000 to Catholicism, sailed to the island with the Jews—or at least not worse than it was 15,500 Jews who once made their homes explorer: Luis de Torres on the Santa for other Cubans—as increasing political there. The majority of remaining Jews Maria, Juan de Cabrera on La Pinta, and unrest spread among Havana's students are professionals—doctors, accountants, Rodrigo de Triana on La Nina. In the and poor in the 1940s and early 1950s. dentists, scientists, computer workers— centuries that followed, Jewish traders In 1952, General Fulgencio Batista can­ who live in suburbs like Vedado, pre- pursuing business in the New World set celed elections and seized power in order Revolutionary Havana's equivalent of up outposts on the island, but it wasn't to prevent the left-of-center democratic New York's fashionable Upper West until 1898, after the Spanish-American nationalist party, the Ortodoxos, and a Side, or in tight-knit communities in the War, that any Jews established a perma­ young lawyer named Fidel Castro from provinces such as Santiago de Cuba, nent presence: American Ashkenazi Jews winning a seat in the House of Represen­ Camaguey, Cienfuegos and Santa Clara. born in Romania and Eastern Europe tatives. The years that followed were Even these middle class Jews are poor arrived to work at U.S.-owned plantations wracked with violence, corruption and by our standards. Salaries and pensions and businesses and founded the island's repression. When Fidel, imprisoned, was are modest. The average salary in Cuba first synagogue, the United Hebrew Con­ granted amnesty, he headed to Mexico to is about 260 pesos a month, which equals gregation—known as the American syn­ organize a guerilla war against Batista. $10. Some people earn as little as 100 agogue—in 1906. After World War I, There he met Ernesto "Che" Guevara, pesos per month, and many senior citi­ they were joined by Sephardic Jews flee­ the legendary doctor who joined in the zens receive pensions that are even lower. ing the Ottoman Empire. Cuban cause and returned with him to Not that Cubans are starving. Their Starting in 1924, thousands of Jews Cuba to fight a guerilla war from their low incomes are offset by free education came to Cuba on their way to the Unit­ base in the Sierra Maestra Mountains. and free health care. Housing is free, ed States. Many stayed just long enough Batista fled on New Year's Day 1959. although new housing is so nearly to establish residency on the Caribbean The new leaders portrayed themselves impossible to obtain that several genera­ island in order to circumvent the U.S.'s as reformers who would redress the injus­ tions of a family reside together in East European quota. Others fell in love tices and corruption of the Batista regime. cramped quarters. But in order to live with the bustling, tropical country—then Most Jews—like other Cubans—waited comfortably and be able to buy items a tourist and gambling Mecca—and to see what would happen, although 38 AUGUST 2004 about 3,000 of the wealthiest, fearing egorized as subversives. Without leaders, ment near the city's seafront boardwalk nationalization, left almost immediately. without numbers, religious Jews strug­ known as the Malecon. "We were very There were rumors early on that the rev­ gled to maintain their traditions and their busy trying to build the revolution. olutionaries would turn to communism. synagogues. They adapted what is known I served in the army for many years. Some say Fidel was a "secret communist" as a "Cuban minyan," that is, seven men Because of this service, I was outside of when he took over, others that he was with three Torah scrolls as stand-ins. my home a great deal. So I never visited improvising and forced to turn to com­ Synagogues in the provinces closed the community." Rutkevich, the son of munism—and eventually to the Soviet for lack of members.