Goal Eight, Struggle and Strife

MDG eight is an interesting one to say the least.  The other seven goals are pretty matter-of-fact, to the point: end hunger, education for everyone, equal rights, increase child and maternal health, combat AIDS and sustain the environment. And then finally lucky number eight: Develop a global partnership for development… how vague, it even has the word “develop” in the six word title twice. That means 66% of the goal’s title is repetitive… but I digress.

Choosing to tell a story relating to this goal could not have been a heftier task. First of all, I’ve never written anything political and didn’t really know how to deal with officials. Olivia initially got rejected from the Israeli Embassy in D.C. and then I got denied by the Consulate General of Israel‘s office yesterday. Through hours of automated voices telling me to dial 1 for English, 3 for the office of media relations, and 8 for a free pen, I found myself lost at sea. I left Ariel Roman-Harris a couple of messages, but to no avail. What surprised me most was that there was no human operator to speak to; dialing zero just restarted the automated messages telling me what to press for a free pen. I admit, I did get frustrated.

Fortunately though, Ruth Behar gave Olivia and I an excellent interview and helped us gain a true direction for our story. There were many angles we could have tackled it from, but Jewbans who immigrate to Israel either for religious reasons or simply an exit strategy from Cuba have to go through a lot before they are greeted with open arms in their true homeland.

We met Ruth Behar

After a confusing attempt to meet last week, Olivia and I were able to meet with professor Ruth Behar, a University of Michigan professor who is teaching a class at the University of Miami titled “Cuban Jews: Diaspora, Identity and the Search for Home”. Even from the title of her class, she seems like the perfect source for all things Jewban. She herself was born in Cuba and left when she was 4 1/2 years old. Her mother’s parents owned a lace store and in 1961, Castro began nationalizing private properties and small business. Not wanting to work for the state, her family went to Israel for one year and then reconvened in New York, where other family members had moved. She said that many Jewban families, including hers thought that NY was too different from Cuba and decided to come to Miami where the tropical weather is a little more reminiscent of home.

Her knowledge of the Jewban population is uncanny. On Saturday, Olivia and I plan on going to the Cuban Hebrew Congregation, a traditional synygogue on Miami Beach near Lincoln Road. She explained that out of the three Cuban Jewish synagogues, Temple Moses, Temple Menorah, and the Hebrew Congregation, this one is struggling the most and has an average weekly attendance of about 50 people on Saturday afternoons. She told us that Rabbi Abromowitz, who built the temple from the ground up, would most likely make us stand up and introduce ourselves as University of Miami students doing a project on Cuban Jews. “He’s really outgoing,” she said.

Professor Behar told us that she would be willing to help us find sources for our Millenium stories and refered us to several people. Mike’s Cigars is located on calle ocho and current owner, Oscar Boruchin was handed the business by the previous owner. Before that he came to Miami from Cuba with nothing but the clothes on his back. It sounds as though he will have some stories to tell. Another source she suggested was a 25 year old girl who came to Miami just over one year ago. This story will be unique because this girl is one of the most recent Jewban immigrants.

Through personal reflection, Ruth Behar discussed how being a Cuban Jew bridges the gap between communities. She can be entirely comfortable speaking Spanish to a waiter at a Cuban restaurant or conversing with Jews in a local synagogue, “we’re like cultural brokers,” she said.

At the conclusion of our meeting, professor Behar made it clear that she has little time on her hands, but is willing and able to help us out. This is the start to a very helpful relationship.