אודות השומר הצעיר קובה
אודות השומר הצעיר קובה
אודות השומר הצעיר קובה
About hashomer hatzair in cuba
FOREWORD
How did the idea to publish a book about the Hashomer Hatzair Movement in Cuba get started? First of all, thanks to the questions asked by our children relating to our adolescence and youth. How do you explain the experiences in the Ken of Hashomer Hatzair? Many of us entered the Movement during World War II, and by the end of it we had been shellshocked by the news from Europe and the knowledge of what had taken place in the concentration and extermination camps - the inhuman Holocaust of the Jewish people. How would we communicate to our children that we would never let that happen to us and the conviction that our home was in Israel, where we could establish strong and unrestricted families and realize the ideals on which we had been brought up: Zionism and the kibbutz? With this idea in mind, Gedalia Lotan contacted Dr. Margalit Bejarano of the Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who expressed considerable interest in the project. She informed us that in the past, she had met with David Roth, Chaim Chayet, Isaac Zilber and Pedro Goldfarb (an Argentinean, and a member of Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak) in order to promote this initiative to put down in writing a narrative that evoked the most beautiful and happy stages in our lives, and the realization for many of us of the idea behind it: Israel and the kibbutz. That idea fell through for a variety of reasons, and later a committee was formed comprising Benzy Cherches and Shoshana and Isaac Zilber, who were subsequently joined by Isaac Chervony, Chaim Chayet and Isaac Percal.
Without the tireless enthusiasm and dedication of all of them, the realization of our aspiration would not have been possible. This is not a book with an ideological character but rather, a historical narrative of events and experiences of a movement that communicated the ideal of building an independent and fair country where the Jewish people could reestablish itself. Hashomer Hatzair taught us to love Israel with the conviction of the ideals that still endure today. Many people made aliyah and established their lives in the country while others, for various reasons, could not do so. However, the shared memories remain and the deep friendships born in those years, continue to this day. The seeds then implanted in us made us better Jews and better people. Our ranks have produced some outstanding personalities: professionals, educators, government officials and leaders of the Zionist and kibbutz framework as well as business entrepreneurs. Proud of our past and of our memories, we hope that this book, with its anecdotes, stories and photographs, becomes a testimony to what we were, the values that are at our core and the companionship that brought us together. The realization of the project was an arduous task, involving countless hours of research in archives and libraries and considerable efforts to raise the necessary funds, and despite initial uncertainty, the response of our colleagues was positive in every way. The enthusiasm and support shown urged us to continue with renewed zeal and after more than three years of work it is with great pride that we can now present you with this book. We hope you enjoy the story and recollections of our past with nostalgia and joy.
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The history of Hashomer Hatzair in Cuba covers less than thirty years from the 1933 revolution against the dictatorship of Gerardo Machado to the 1959 revolution against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. During that time the two most important events in modern Jewish history also took place: the Holocaust and the creation of the State of Israel. The story of Hashomer Hatzair reflects the reaction of the Jews in Cuba to the reality surrounding those two events. This historical introduction provides a brief reference to the incidents that shaped the fate of the Jews in Cuba at the time and had major influence on the history of the Youth Movement. The founders of Hashomer Hatzair were immigrants from Poland and Lithuania who had suffered the horrors of the First World War and harbored high hopes of emigrating to the United States. The restrictions on immigration to Di Goldene Medine (the Golden State) created by the American quota policy, led thousands of Jews to Cuba because they trusted it to serve them as a station from which they could move on. The initial years of the history of the Jews who came from Eastern Europe to Cuba were times of great change with the arrival and departure of immigrants which hindered the establishment of its Jewish institutions. The Jews who had belonged to the Zionist Movement in their countries of origin, in 1924, created the Tzionistishe Fareinikung (Zionist Union of Cuba), an organization which was the umbrella for all the Zionist parties. The small number of Zionists and the ongoing migration to the United States led to the decision to unify all of the Zionist groups under one umbrella organization. From its inception, Hashomer Hatzair operated under the auspices of the Zionist Union. Immigrants from Eastern Europe were not the only Jews who had come to Cuba, as they had been preceded by American Jews who arrived there with the US military during its occupation (1898-1902) and businessmen who had come from the United States after Cuban independence (1902). Most belonged to a higher socioeconomic class to that of the Jews who had come from Europe. These immigrants created the first Jewish community, the United Hebrew Congregation, but most were not involved in Zionist activity and had no youth movement. Sephardi Jews had immigrated to Cuba before the First World War and during the 1920s. Most came from Turkey and spoke Ladino. A large proportion was dispersed in the inner cities and at first almost all of them were street merchants. The Sephardim were among the founders of the Zionist Union, which for some years operated from the headquarters of the Sephardi community, Shevet Achim. The Theodor Herzl School also operated out of the same building, as an institution under the joint auspices of the Sephardi community and the Zionist Union. The Ashkenazi Jews did not feel comfortable with that sharing framework and in 1932 moved to their own premises at 32, Luz Street. This separation of ethnic Jews was also evident in the Zionist Youth Organization: those who spoke Yiddish created Hechalutz and later, Hashomer Hatzair while the Sephardim created Maccabi.
