On August 5, 1906, the First Synagogue in Havana was opened by 11 American Jews, marking the beginning of Cuban Jewry, or “Jewbanos” and "Jewbanas.” While the first Jews arrived on the island during the 16th and 17th centuries, escaping the Inquisition, these were most likely Conversos, or people in constant persecution. Following the 1898 Spanish-American War, Ashkenazi Jews established a community in Cuba after having moved there for business, seeking to be more directly involved in the tobacco and sugar cane industries.From 1910 to 1920, a significant number of Sephardic Jews from Turkey moved to Cuba, and the population fluctuated over the next 20 years, as many moved to either the United States or other Latin American countries. Infamously, the SS St. Louis ship fleeing Nazi Germany was denied from disembarking in Cuba, the U.S., Canada and other countries in the region)Following President Fidel Castro's revolution, nearly all of Cuba's Jews fled, and the ones who stayed were mostly treated the same as the rest of the citizens. Following the Six-Day War, Castro's regime turned ardently anti-Zionist, going so far as to publish anti-Zionist and antisemitic propaganda while specifically banning books like Anne Frank's diary. By 1973, Cuba would cut off all relations with Israel and even begin training Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terrorist operatives on the island.Nowadays, Cuba's remaining Jewish population is comprised mostly of converts. Since 1992, the American Jewish Joint Distribution has worked hard to rebuild the Jewish community. While there is no official rabbi on the island, Rabbi Shmuel Szteinhendler of Chile travels there from time to time to conduct ceremonies like weddings, brit milas, and bar/bat mitzvahs. It isn’t possible to publish this post without acknowledging the ongoing situation in Cuba and the countless Cubans whose lives hang in the balance. For over 60 years, the Cuban people have lived under brutal dictatorship at the hands of the Castro regime. Contrary to the prevailing narratives presented on television and social media, this most recent plea for a more democratic Cuba is not the result of a decades old U.S. embargo but rather a product of corrupt communist practices that have continued to prioritize the government over the governed. We here at OTDJH stand with the Cuban people and hope that their voices are heard and that true change will come to this beautiful island. We pray for this change to see this once thriving Jewish community return to its height along with other faiths and traditions that have been stamped out, and we pray that their people are finally successful in their ongoing effort to build a country around shared needs and values to ensure a better tomorrow.