The 40 member Jewish community of Santa Clara, the capital city of the central Villa Clara province, has raised enough money to buy a two story house and convert it into a synagogue and community center. It is beautifully done with a small sanctuary, kitchen, recreation room and roof top gathering area with a spectacular tile wall which runs the entire length of the roof showing a view of Jerusalem looking down into the city.

SANTA CLARA SYNAGOGUE AND COMMUNITY

Ark	David Tacher - President of Synagogue at right
Tile Wall on roof	Closeup of The Wall

The congregation takes great pride in maintaining their very old Jewish cemetery and also in 2003 erecting their Holocaust memorial, one of two in Cuba. It is located to the left as one enters the cemetery. The memorial includes a stone from the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and in front of the memorial is a path made of stones from the Warsaw Ghetto which emulate railroad tracks and climb up the memorial stone. These tracks represent the railroad tracks that brought the Jews into the concentration camps and eventually to their death.

Entrance to Santa Clara Jewish Cemetery	Santa Clara Jewish Cemetery
Santa Clara Jewish Cemetery	Holocaust Memorial - Santa Clara Jewish Cemetery

David Tacher is the President of Comunidad Tikun Olam, the small Santa Clara congregation. He is not as optimistic as Adela when it comes to the future of the Jews in Cuba under the present regime. He told us that before the revolution took hold there were 15,000 Jews in Cuba and 90% of them flew the island by 1959. Presently any Cuban Jew is permitted to make Aliyah to Israel and many have done so. 50% of those who do make Aliyah use this as a stepping to come to America and many of them wind up in Miami. Those who are choosing to stay in Cuba are doing so because of close family ties or financial hardships. He also told us that many people have come to him claiming they are Jews and are trying to use this as an escape mechanism to get out of Cuba. Since he basically knows all the Jews in the area he has to turn these people away, and sometimes this turns into an ugly and very challenging situation for him. He is hoping that the end of the present regime and future economic prosperity will bring new life to the Jewish community. I agree and will give you my opinion and impression of this later.