Kesher Talk

Jews in odd places: Cuba: Israel's Birthright program, started three years ago, arranges 10-day tours for Jews from countries around the world. While Fidel Castro has allowed Jewish Cubans to go to Israel in the past for conferences and conventions, August 7 was the first time that a Birthright tour was approved. It took the Cuban group a month to get government permission for eight young Cuban Jews to make the trip.

Cuba's Jewish community started with a very small migration of Jews from the United States to Cuba after the Spanish-American war. Then more Jews immigrated to Cuba from Turkey. In the 1920s and 1930s, Jews fleeing persecution arrived in Cuba. By 1959 the community had grown to 15,000. After Fidel Castro came to power many fled. About 1,200 Jews live in Cuba today.

Castro broke off relations with Israel in 1973, like most other third-world jerk-offs.

posted by William @ 9/03/2003 08:21:19 AM