It
is 5 pm on this Friday evening, 10 November 2017. The sun has eased its
strength and squalls and the rain seemed to have left for elsewhere.
I
am sitting in my comfortable abode just one block away from the Sea, protected
by the wall, Malecon, from the fury of its waves, which often come walkabout
across the road.
I
have been staying at this apartment for about one year now and I have always
felt very comfortable here. I attributed it to the Feng Shui of the place, till
Adela Dworin, the President of the Jewish Community of Havana told me the
story.
Patronato
or the Jewish centre is a short walk away from this area, and the houses are in
good shape and kempt in rather good order.
Before
they left for Miami or elsewhere, this used to be the Jewish Quarter of the
people from the synagogue who lived here so that they could walk to the
Synagogue on Shabbat. Adela Dworin was born and has lived all her life in this
neighbourhood, where the Jewish presence is now reduced to her. (And of course
myself, when I am in town that does not make a crowd)
She
knew the building where I lived and she said: the landlord was a Jew by the
name of Isaac Gurevich. Now I could make the connection. I am living in a house
where Jews had lived before, perhaps for 50-75 years! So it was not Feng Shui
but the presence of Jewish Spirits.
I
asked Adela for two candles so when I light the candles tonight, there would be
an added significance.
The
Jewish presence continues!
I remembered the time when they were hardly any one after the Shabbat Services.
American Jews have always been very supportive of the Jewish Community of Havana.
There is a Sephardic Synagogue as well as a Orthodox one, where there is a Chabad presence.
Shabbat Shalom..
