Parents and members of Temple Beth Shmuel’s congregation enjoy a student performance for Israel’s 61st birthday celebration. Photo by Olivia Bernardo

Temple Beth Shmuel Cuban Hebrew Congregation was once a fading congregation, but the rising number of students at the temple’s Jewish Montessori School helped revitalize the congregation.

With many original Cuban Jewish members aging and dying, TBS trustees Becky Cohen, Oscar Sklar, Micki Glinsky and Fabio Nick recognized the need to keep the temple alive, in numbers and spirit.

They realized a Jewish Montessori school, the first of its kind in Miami-Dade County, was the solution and granted automatic membership to all families of students attending the school.

“At the time, I was in the process of adopting two children from Russia and had to wait one year before I could bring them home,” said Cohen, vice president of TBS and chairman of the school board.  ”[The school] had been in the works for six years and it was time to make it happen.  The community was going to help raise my children.”

The four founding members approached Rebeca Krys, who is now a 22-year Montessori teaching veteran, to help create a school that combined the teaching methods of Maria Montessori with Jewish ideals, such as family togetherness, respect for others and philanthropy.

“I am very fond of what I do,” Krys said as she kissed a student named Roxy on the head.  “I love it.  Just look at the faces.”

In 2004, Temple Beth Shmuel Montessori School opened its doors with eight children.

Cohen’s son Bernie, 7, was the first child enrolled at the school at the age of 2.   Today, the school is home to 56 students and has a waiting list of more than 100.

Many students who graduate from this school go on to gifted programs in public and private elementary schools.

“In [Bernie's] graduating class, he and several other students were hand-picked for gifted programs,” Cohen said.

TBS Montessori encourages its students to select daily activities according to their personal interests.  Different from traditional schooling, children have the freedom to choose what they want to learn in a Montessori program, independent from their classmates and teachers.

“You have to follow the child and understand what the child wants,” Directress Krys said.  ”You do not do what you want, but what the child wants.  It’s a better way to teach hands on.”

In the backyard of the school, students took initiative by planting a garden to celebrate the Jewish holiday Tu B’Shvat, the Jewish Arbor Day.

As the liaison between the temple and school, Cohen arranges four to six events throughout the year to maintain the connection between students and original congregation members.

The school most recently celebrated Israel’s 61st year of independence.  Students prepared with their Hebrew, music and dance teachers for two weeks for a performance at the “birthday party.”  Parents, grandparents, teachers and members of the congregation attended.

“We have new families bringing life to the synagogue and older members keeping tradition,” Cohen said.

Parents who attended the event credit the overall success of their children to the teachers.

“The teachers do a great job,” said Alison Heiss Mclaney, a TBS mother.  ”They really allowed my daughter Stella to blossom.”

Teachers have the opportunity to work directly with the children and learn their individual personalities during morning “work time” and lunch.

“I like lunchtime a lot, we have a lot of conversations going on,” said Romi Napartsek, 24, the Pre-K/Kindergarten teacher.  ”You get a lot from the kids and get to interact and laugh with them.”

Rabbi Abramowitz, leader of the congregation, also enjoys interacting with the students every Friday in preparation of the Sabbath.

“They call me the ‘Funny Rabbi,’” the 89-year-old said while displaying his jumping ability.  ”Judaism has to be fun too.  The best thing I have here is when [Krys] allows me to come into the classroom and sing with them, yell with them and run around with them.”

In the 1950s, Abramowitz became known as the “Cuban Rabbi” when he opened the doors of another synagogue, Temple Menorah on Miami Beach, to Cuban Jews who fled Cuba.

“The Cuban Jews weren’t accepted in Miami,” Abramowitz said.  ”Everyone thought they were rich.  They came with nothing more than coins in their pockets.”

Initially, members paid no dues, and children went to Hebrew school and could participate in summer activities for free.

He has led the Cuban Hebrew Congregation at Temple Beth Shmuel since 2006.

“One of the main philosophies of TBS is ‘l’dor vador,’” said Marcos Kerbel, president of TBS, who explained that in Hebrew, it means “generation to generation.”

“The Wailing Wall” and the Dome of the Rock in the Old City of Jersualem, Israel. Photo by Joshua Newman

On April 13, 2009 President Barack Obama lifted all restrictions on the ability of Cuban-Americans to visit and send remittances to relatives in the island nation.

“President Obama has directed that a series of steps be taken to reach out to the Cuban people to support their desire to enjoy basic human rights and to freely determine their country’s future,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.

This comes after a group of senators suggested a new approach to policy toward Cuba and unveiled a bill March 31 to lift the 47-year-old travel ban.

“The debate [over U.S. sanctions on Cuba] is important because it has implications for security interests in the Straits of Florida, broader U.S.-Latin American relations, and global perceptions of U.S. foreign policy,” wrote Sen. Richard G. Lugar, R-Ind., one of the bill’s sponsors.

While some hope that a new U.S attitude toward Cuba will provide an opportunity to open the lines of communication regarding trade and human rights, there is concern about how an influx of American money will be handled by the Cuban government.

“Cuba is anti-Israel,” Jaime Suchlicki, director of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, said.  “It supports Hezbollah and Hamas.”

The Israeli Embassy’s press department failed to comment on Israel’s policy toward Cuba because of “bureaucratic red tape,” but Israel routinely supports the U.S embargo.

Cuba and Israel cut ties in 1973 after the Yom Kippur War, when Cuba sent financial and military aid to support the war efforts of Arab states in conflict with Israel.

“If the money is being used for anything other than the necessities, it will be unfair,” said Marcus Kerbel, president of the Cuban Hebrew Congregation at Temple Beth-Shmuel in Miami.  “Only time will tell where the money is going to be used.”

For Cuba’s minority of Jewish citizens, this political strife makes expressing loyalty to both homelands difficult and complex.

“There is a difference between the official rhetoric of Cuba and the day-to-day,” Kerbel said.

The Cuban government routinely expresses condemnation of Israel’s government but allows its Jewish citizens to make “aliyah,” a term for the immigration of Jews to Israel.

“Cuba exists in a web of contradictions,” Ruth Behar, a visiting anthropology professor at the University of Miami, said.

Behar is a Cuban Jew whose family chose to make “aliyah” in 1961.  Behar was four years old at the time and since then has lived in both countries to better understand fellow Cuban Jews, the subject of her life’s work.

“Seeing all these successful American Jews [visit Cuba] has made Jews on the island curious about the world Jewish community,” Behar said.  “You can continue to be the object of their gaze or you can go.”

Deepening interest in the culture and identity of the international Jewish community has led those Cubans to choose “aliyah.”

But for some Cuban Jews, moving to Israel is not based on the ideals of the Zionist Movement, which calls for the return of all Jews to Israel through “aliyah.”

Instead, Israel has become an “exit strategy” - a way to leave the Cuban communist government behind, which Behar said is never openly discussed.

“In Cuba, since you really can’t express dissent, the only way to do so is by immigrating,” Behar said. “You love it or you leave it.”

Should Cuban Jews choose to leave, their travel arrangements, paperwork and fees are taken care of by the Jewish Agency for Israel, a global organization created in 1929 to rescue Jews in distress, facilitate “aliyah” and absorption, educate people on Jewish Zionism and build a global Jewish community.

“The core belief of the Jewish Agency is a strong Jewish future requires a strong Israel at its heart,” states the official Web site for the Jewish Agency, which details the process of making “aliyah.”   From Hebrew language lessons to psychological advice for leaving your old home, the Jewish Agency claims to assist immigrants in every possible way, according to the site.

Upon arrival in Israel, Cuban Jews can live in an absorption center and receive a monthly stipend and medical coverage for up to one year before beginning a working life in Israel.

Behar said some are content living in Israel while others try to immigrate again to countries like the United States and Canada.

Wherever their final destination, Behar has seen many Cuban Jews who left the socialist republic save their money to return to Cuba as tourists.

“In the contemporary moment, Jews who leave don’t break their ties with Cuba,” Behar said.  “The Jews who left in the sixties broke their ties.”

After one year as president of Cuba, Raul Castro’s most identifiable success has been his increased foreign interactions worldwide.

“In the last four months, nine Latin American leaders have gone to Cuba to meet with Castro,” said Dr. Brian Latell, senior research associate for the Institute of Cuban and Cuban- American Studies at the University of Miami.  “That’s quite a procession,” he said.  ”In the 50 years since the Castro revolution, I don’t think the Castro government has had a higher international standing.”

Yet, Suchlicki said international openness has not improved the quality of life on the island.

“The fact that Cuba has a few allies [or not] is meaningless to Cuban Jews,” he said. “They still have essential problems like getting food.”

Elza Habif explains how she founded Habif Jewelry at her store in Downtown Miami on March 10, 2009. The “Lucky Eye” is the basis of her business. Photo by Joshua Newman

“From Turkey With Love” is the slogan that reads off of the business card for Habif Jewelry Company.  The phrase refers to both the origin of “lucky eye” jewelry sold in the store and the heritage of its Jewish shop owners, Elza and Alberto Habif.

Elza, 76, emigrated from Turkey in 1952 to marry Alberto, another Turkish Jew already living in Cuba.  Eleven years later the couple fled from Castro’s regime to pursue the American dream in Miami - a journey that began with nothing and would eventually lead to the ownership of a successful jewelry business.

Today Elza Habif sits behind a desk in Suite 45 of Miami Metro Mall, covered in bundled passports, an assortment of “lucky eye” pamphlets and scattered photos.  A large portrait photograph of Alberto, now deceased, looks over her right shoulder.  After 56 years of marriage, Habif recalls with nostalgia the American life they built together.

“When we came here, we really left a lot in Cuba,” Habif said.  “We went from having everything to nothing.”

The Habifs came to the United States from Cuba in 1963 bringing with them only the clothes they wore to travel that day.  All of their possessions had to be given away or left behind.

Naile Kreiezmar, 70, came to the United States from Cuba just three years before her sister Elza.  The day Kreiezmar arrived in Florida, she spent the five dollars she made selling a few cigars on the bus ride from Key West to Miami.  She did not eat that day.

“We were very much afraid that we weren’t going to make it,” said Kreiezmar.

Had it not been for the generosity of an aunt, Naile and her husband might not have had a place to sleep either.

“We were strapped for cash,” said Kreiezmar.  “My husband and I lived in a tiny apartment with my mother and 14-year-old nephew for six or seven months.  My mom slept on the sofa.”

Cramped living conditions and depleted bank accounts were a far cry from the life Kreiezmar and her sister had lived in Cuba.

“We actually had servants in Cuba,” Kreiezmar said.  “I used to have maids in my house.”

For this reason Kreiezmar believes that of all her Cuban-Jewish friends, the women had the hardest time adjusting to the drop in socio-economic class from one country to another.

“I did not even know how to cook or boil water,” said Kreiezmar.  “We had to teach each other.”

Like her sister, Habif had been well established in Havana through the ownership of a chain of tourist shops in six major hotels. The Habifs also owned a perfume factory.

“Life in Cuba was beautiful and successful and everything. It was very easy-going, and everything was magnificent,” Habif said.

But that was before Castro came into power, she said.

According to Ruth Behar, a Cuban Jew and visiting professor at the University of Miami, Castro did not treat the Jews differently than any other Cubans. When he came into power, he took everyone’s possessions without discrimination.

The Habifs’ perfume factory was seized by the government and turned into an old age home.

In her final year living in Cuba, Habif lived in the same apartment building as Fidel Castro.

“I used to see him every day with his men with the big guns in the elevators,” she said.  “That’s why we left Cuba.”

The idea that people still live under a communist regime is disturbing to Habif.
“You can’t have any independence,” she said.  “How can you live under such oppression?”

When Habif first arrived in Florida, she and her husband were able to conquer the emotional struggle of living “check-to-check” by being positive and optimistic.

“We didn’t have luxury,” Habif said.  “But we had everything we needed.”
She took up her first job in a factory, working for $60 per week while living with her family in Miami Beach.

She said they were initially never able to save money and spent everything they made.

“It was difficult to live, but we were very happy to be here.  It could have been worse in Cuba,” Habif said.  “The feeling of living in America overtook the feeling of hard times.”

Q: What is the Institute of Cuban and Cuban-Amerian Studies, which you refer to as ICCAS?
A: This institute is primarily a research and outreach program. We do publication research, contract work for the US government and for corporations. We have an academic journal that we publish, and we offer a summer intensive program on Cuba. ICCAS organizes seminars, lectures and offers courses.  We are essentially the link between Cuba, UM, Cuban exiles and South Florida.  Right now, a lot of our time is devoted to the Cuban Transition Project.

Q: Which is?
A: Essentially, we are making recommendations for the reconstruction of Cuba if a post-Castro transition begins.  That is a project we started in 2002.  It’s funded by a grant from the U.S Agency for International Development.

Q: Where does the outreach component come in?
A: The Casa Bacardi is the interactive side of the institute. The institute is the umbrella [organization].  Casa Bacardi is the outreach portion. We do activities with the Cuban community: seminars, lectures, musical programs and film exhibits.  It is an interactive center focused on Cuban history and culture.  It was built with a donation to ICCAS by the Bacardi Family, as in the alcohol.  The center houses the Cuban Information Center, a music and products pavillion, a cinema and a lecture hall.  The goal of Casa Bacardi as an interactive site is to provide a place where Cubans and non-Cubans alike can learn about Cuba’s past and present.

Q: Did you ever see yourself doing what you do today?
A: No. I saw myself living in Cuba and staying in Cuba. I had visited Miami many times and had an aunt in New York, but I never planned on living here. My father had a business.  He was a middle class shopkeeper.  I worked with him sometimes, but I wasn’t very interested in the business.  I was interested in politics. I studied for one and one half years at the University of Havana and probably would have become an international lawyer, but I left before I finished college.

Q: What is the history of the Cuban Jews in Miami?
A: The first batch of Cubans that left the island was those that were connected with the old dictatorship. As businesses began to be confiscated, non-Jewish Cubans began to leave, then the Jewish community left, mostly in the 1960’s.  The Jews who immigrated from Eastern Europe and Russia understood that what was happening in Cuba was not just a minor revolution, so many of them decided to move. Out of about 12,000 Cuban Jews, approximately 9,000 left. Out of those who left, most came to Miami, some went to New York and some went to Puerto Rico. They chose Miami because it was close, it already had a Cuban community and most of them weren’t thinking of migrating permanently.  But in the Cuban community as a whole, there’s a small group that has done very well. The “Jewbans” have done fairly well.  Most of them are upper-middle class.

Q:  Is there a special “Jewban”-Israel connection?
A: We all grew up when the state of Israel was created, and we became adults with the state of Israel, so having lost our first home, which was Cuba, Israel became very important to us. The Castro government had taken a strong position against Israel, had supported Hezbollah and Hamas, but Jews living in Cuba were never given a hard time. Many Jews in Cuba left the island by way of Israel, but then soon immigrated to the United States. Even before they left Cuba, Cuban Jews already had a strong attachment, and there was a lot of support for Israel. When anti-Semitism grows too much, it is a place you can go.  It is a psychological refuge.

Q: What comes first for you?  Being a Jew or being Cuban?
A: Well I am very connected to my cultural [Jewish] heritage and I am always very concerned with the state of Israel, but because of the nature of my work, being Cuban comes first.