Latino Jews, Combining Religious Traditions And Hispanic Heritage

[rug]

Latino Jews, Combining Religious Traditions And Hispanic Heritage

Posted: 10/06/2012 10:38 am EDT

Coincidentally the Jewish High Holidays overlap with Hispanic Heritage Month, but these two communities come together in more ways than on a calendar. Before this year’s Festival of Booths, known as Sukkot, comes to an end this Sunday, we thought we’d shed some light on a lesser known aspect of Hispanic heritage: the Latino Jew.

Catholicism may be predominantly practiced in Latin America, but a large number of Latinos follow Judaism in countries like Argentina and Cuba. In the early 1960s, Castro’s revolution prompted an exodus to the north that included more than 9,000 of the 12,000 Cuban Jews that lived on the Caribbean island before the revolution. It is now estimated that some 2,500 Cuban Jews live in the Miami area alone.

In the video above, a Cuban family shows how Judaism and Hispanic heritage are united by a mutual love of food, family, and history. For the first time since 1955, the family visits a Cuba seemingly frozen in time, exploring their father’s hometown, connecting to his childhood, and even celebrating Sukkot on the island.

Happy Sukkot! Happy Hispanic Heritage Month!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/06/latino-jews_n_1943907.html

Video at link.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. A question--

Why did so many Jews leave Castro's Cuba? Was it because they tended to be more educated, prosperous & conservative than average?

[rug]

2. I don't really know.

I would be hesitant to draw any conclusion until I knew how many stayed. I suspect the migration had more to do with class and politics than religion. At least that's the case for most other Cubans who migrated.

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Sounds like 3/4 of them left (9000/12000).

"Castro’s revolution prompted an exodus to the north that included more than 9,000 of the 12,000 Cuban Jews that lived on the Caribbean island before the revolution."

[rug]

4. What do you think?

[Jackpine Radical]

5. Beyond the hypothesis I gave in my first post, I got no clue.

Was there something anti-semitic about the revolutionaries? In those early days, were the Jews leaving to avoid any unpleasantness from Castro's Soviet connections?

[okasha]

6. The Soviets had a long history

of persecuting Jews and holding them to ransom for concessions from the US. The emigres might well have expected the same from Castro, who was heavily influenced by the USSR.

[Jackpine Radical]

7. I think we may be stumbling toward the correct answer.

[dimbear]

8. Also interesting is Ladino, the Latino parallel to Yiddish.

http://www.sephardicstudies.org/quickladino.html

[jody]

9. Doesn't Sephardi Jew essentially mean Spanish Jew? I don't grasp the point the OP is trying

to make.

[Meshuga]

10. It's a little more complicated than that...

Sephardic is very specific to Judaism that developed in the Iberian Peninsula that has different liturgy, halachik interpretation, and language than the Ashkenazim (developed in Germany and Eastern Europe).

I am Brazilian born but I am only Sephardic because I am a descendent of Jews who fled Portugal during the holy inquisition.

But countries like Brazil and Argentina have a majority Ashkenazim population rather than Serphadim. So most Latin Jews are not Serphadim. Maybe it is changing with the movement of "Marranos/New Christians" returning to Judaism in places like Brazil and Mexico.

But the Ashkenazim way (and last names of German and Eastern European origins) is in the majority. At least it seems to be this way. I am a Sephardic Jew who has grown up in the Ashkenazim culture because that was the only choice available.

[jody]

11. My mitochondrial DNA is identical to that of those who identify as Ashkenazim.

[Meshuga]

12. I am not sure I understand...

...the point you are trying to make with your response to my post and the shrug.

[jody]

13. I merely stated a fact without interpretation. If for example the Y-chromosomal Aaron is a marker

for descendants of Aaron it will present interesting observations regarding population demographics. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y-chromosomal_Aaron

Such questions will increase as genetic research identifies more groups of people who are genetically identical to the 13.4 million people who identify themselves as Jews.

[Meshuga]

14. Cool, thanks for the clarification. n/t