{"id":142906,"date":"2021-10-17T13:41:01","date_gmt":"2021-10-17T11:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shavei.org\/blog\/2021\/10\/17\/%d7%9e%d7%a6%d7%92%d7%aa-%d7%a2%d7%9c-%d7%99%d7%94%d7%95%d7%93%d7%99-%d7%a7%d7%95%d7%91%d7%94\/"},"modified":"2021-10-17T13:41:03","modified_gmt":"2021-10-17T11:41:03","slug":"%d7%9e%d7%a6%d7%92%d7%aa-%d7%a2%d7%9c-%d7%99%d7%94%d7%95%d7%93%d7%99-%d7%a7%d7%95%d7%91%d7%94","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shavei.org\/he\/blog\/2021\/10\/17\/%d7%9e%d7%a6%d7%92%d7%aa-%d7%a2%d7%9c-%d7%99%d7%94%d7%95%d7%93%d7%99-%d7%a7%d7%95%d7%91%d7%94\/","title":{"rendered":"\u05de\u05e6\u05d2\u05ea \u05e2\u05dc \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d3\u05d9 \u05e7\u05d5\u05d1\u05d4"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Ma'ani Center,\nsponsored by Shavei Israel and the Office of the Ministry of Culture, and with\nthe backing of \u201cHiganu Habaita\u201d (\u201cWe Arrived Home\u201d; meetings for and\nby new immigrants to support diverse cultures and communities, share\nexperiences, as well as to make new friends) hosted a presentation by the\nresearcher Mrs. Eugenia Farin Levy, author of four books about\nJewish history in Cuba: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

–\u00a0The Synagogue of Santiago de Cuba
–\u00a0Judaism in Cuba
–\u00a0Atlas of Judaism in Cuba
–\u00a0Brief Chronology of the Presence of the Hebrews in Cuba<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mrs. Farin Levy\nregaled the audience with the history of the cultural and economic\ncontributions of the Jews in Cuba from the 1500\u2019s to the present, as well as\nthe history of the Santiago de Cuba Synagogue and some of its unique features:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

–\u00a0The building was built to be used as a religious institution
–\u00a0It has a \u201cSefer\u00a0Torah\u201d (Hebrew Bible) from the seventeenth century
–\u00a0It was expropriated by the government after Cuba declared itself an atheist state, and returned to the Jewish community after more than 20 years to be used for its original purpose.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The presentation was made\nwithout notes, since the speaker knows the subject in depth because of her long\nyears dedicated to research, and her status as an integral member of that\ngroup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story began with the\narrival of Christopher Columbus on his expedition of discovery, and the landing\nof the first European on the island, who turned out to be a Jew named Yosef\nLevy haIvri, known as Luis de Torres, as he had been forced to convert to\nChristianity by The Inquisition in Spain. It continued with the interesting\nhistory and the different contributions that Jews have made to the island's\neconomy and also their participation in the wars of independence that gave rise\nto the nascent Cuban Nation. Already in the republican period the stories are\ncollected of several waves of immigrants pushed by the different conflagrations\nand how the inhabitants of Cuba received them with marked hospitality. The\nevolution and flowering of the community until the arrival of the Castro\nGovernment in 1959, with a communist orientation, which tried to make this a\ncountry without religions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ingenious ways that\nfamilies used to survive and keep alive the flame of Judaism to the present are\nnarrated. With the manifest interest of transmitting from generation to\ngeneration traditions and unwavering faith in G-d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The audience listened\ncarefully and at the end of the conference, multiple questions arose which were\nanswered by the speaker to further expand the information. The program was\nextremely enriching for all present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was explained  with\nsimple words how the Caribbean Island has been able to keep alive a small but\nvibrant Kehila, where it can be said that: Am Yisrael  b\u2019Cuba\nChai. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The topic was of interest to\nsome people who were motivated, so they went to our Center, the meeting was\nenhanced by a public enthusiast, Dr. Margalit Bejarano, a Hebrew\nUniversity Professor who specializes in the subject of Judaism in Cuba. Also\npresent were immigrants from Colombia, Armenia, Mexico, Spain, and\nArgentina. Also Dr. Eduardo Torres, a historian of the Jewish\ncommunities of Latin America, originally from Cuba,\nparticipated.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The meeting was full of\nenthusiasm, strength, emotion, and gratitude to having come home, to have\nbeen received and supported by the government, to have found the spiritual\nlevel and understanding that we have longed and searched for a long time, to\nknow that we belong to a family with a 5000 year tradition, to the dedication\nthat gave us the opportunity to live in the promised land and follow the\nprinciples that give us life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: Mrs.\u00a0Farin\u00a0Levy was born in Cuba in 1950. She is an economist by profession and a historian of vocation. She was categorized by the Academy of Sciences as a researcher of history and culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n