Cuba has had a complicated reputation since Fidel Castro’s Communist party took over the lovely Caribbean island in 1959. But in the decades leading up to the revolution, Cuba was home to a diverse and flourishing Jewish community with everything needed to live a full Jewish life—and there are still Jews living there today. Read on for 11 fascinating facts about the Jews of Cuba, then and now.
1. The First Jew Came With Columbus
During Christopher Columbus’s first voyage in 1492, he and his crew landed on several islands in the Caribbean, including a month-long stay in Cuba. Columbus’s interpreter, Luis de Torres, was a converso—a Jew who had been forcibly converted to Christianity. He was thus the first Jew to set foot in Cuba, and indeed in all of the Americas.
De Torres was among the small group left behind on the nearby island of Hispaniola to establish the first European settlement in the Americas. Sadly, he and the rest of the group perished within the first year.
2. The Modern Community Formed at the Turn of the 20th Century
While additional conversos settled in Cuba in the 16th and 17th centuries, a full-fledged Jewish community only took root after Cuba gained independence from Spain in 1898. Jews arrived in three waves: first American expatriates, then Sephardic Jews from Turkey, and finally Ashkenazi immigrants from Eastern Europe—called “Polacos,” or Poles, by the locals.
3. A Temporary Stopover Became a Permanent Home
For most of the Ashkenazi immigrants, Cuba was simply a transit point until they could continue on to the United States. Many nicknamed the island Akhsanie Cuba, the “Cuban guesthouse.” In 1924, however, the U.S. government passed a law severely limiting Jewish immigration, and those already in Cuba were forced to stay. Many more European Jewish immigrants joined them in the years that followed.
4. Three Communities, One Island
The three Jewish groups each established their own congregation, supporting one another while maintaining their distinct identities. The Americans founded the United Hebrew Congregation in 1906 and opened Cuba’s first Jewish cemetery. The Sephardim founded Shevet Achim in 1914, establishing a synagogue and offering religious and social services to the community. Then, in 1924, once the Ashkenazi immigrants realized that Cuba was their permanent home, they founded their own synagogue along with a school and other communal institutions.
5. Jews Lived in Havana—and Beyond
Most of Cuba’s Jews, including the American and Ashkenazi communities, were centered in Havana, the island’s capital and largest city. The Sephardic Jews, who could integrate more easily thanks to a shared language and culture (they spoke Ladino, a language closely related to Spanish), spread throughout the island. In addition to the main Sephardi congregation in Havana, they established communities in Camaguey and Santiago—each large enough to support its own rabbi—as well as smaller groups in many towns across Cuba.
6. The Unfortunate Passengers of the S. Louis
In May 1939, the S. Louis sailed from Hamburg, Germany, to Havana, Cuba, carrying hundreds of German Jews desperate to escape the Third Reich. The passengers held Cuban transit visas and planned to remain in Cuba until they could obtain visas to the United States.
Tragically, political infighting and local antisemitism led the Cuban government to refuse them passage. The ship then sailed past Miami, only to be turned away by the United States as well. With no country willing to take them in, the passengers were forced to return to Europe—and over a quarter of them ultimately perished in the Holocaust.
7. Postwar Years Brought Prosperity
The financial fortunes of Cuba’s Jews rose and fell alongside the broader economy. Many Jewish immigrants opened their own businesses, and some became professionals. In the early 1900s, as Cuba prospered, so did its Jewish community; during the Great Depression, many struggled to keep their businesses afloat. The postwar boom and a thriving tourist industry revived the local economy, and Cuban Jews were once again able to enjoy family and religious life in relative comfort.
8. Cuban Jewish Cuisine Is a European-Tropical Blend
Eastern European immigrants brought their homey recipes with them to Cuba, but the island’s lush tropical climate introduced them to wonderful new ingredients unheard of in the old country, like creamy avocados and sweet guavas. Classic dishes were enhanced with local kosher ingredients, and meals followed the local rhythm: a light breakfast and dinner, with a large midday lunch.
9. The Revolution Changed Everything
The Jewish community continued to flourish until Fidel Castro’s revolution in 1959. At first, many Jews welcomed the overthrow of the corrupt Batista regime. But as the revolutionaries embraced Communist policies and their true intentions became clear, the vast majority of Cuba’s 15,000 Jews fled—their businesses nationalized by the government and their synagogues left abandoned.
10. Miami Became a “Jewban” Hotspot
Many Jewish Cuban refugees settled in Miami, the closest American city to Cuba. Known as “Jewbans”—a blend of Jewish and Cuban—these immigrants built a large, close-knit community, in which Yiddish, Spanish, and English merged seamlessly. Others made new homes in Puerto Rico and elsewhere.
11. The Jewish Community Today
While most Jews left Cuba after the revolution, a small number remained. Religious repression left Jewish life dormant for decades, and the situation deteriorated further after Cuba severed ties with Israel in 1973. But in 1992, Castro announced a new policy of religious freedom, and Jewish life in Cuba has since experienced a modest revival.
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