An Island Called Home: Returning to Jewish Cuba - Softcover

Ruth Behar

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0813545005 ISBN 13: 9780813545004

Publisher: Rutgers University Press, 2009

Synopsis

Yiddish-speaking Jews thought Cuba was supposed to be a mere layover on the journey to the United States when they arrived in the island country in the 1920s. They even called it “Hotel Cuba.” But then the years passed, and the many Jews who came there from Turkey, Poland, and war-torn Europe stayed in Cuba. The beloved island ceased to be a hotel, and Cuba eventually became “home.” But after Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, the majority of the Jews opposed his communist regime and left in a mass exodus. Though they remade their lives in the United States, they mourned the loss of the Jewish community they had built on the island.

As a child of five, Ruth Behar was caught up in the Jewish exodus from Cuba. Growing up in the United States, she wondered about the Jews who stayed behind. Who were they and why had they stayed? What traces were left of the Jewish presence, of the cemeteries, synagogues, and Torahs? Who was taking care of this legacy? What Jewish memories had managed to survive the years of revolutionary atheism?

An Island Called Home is the story of Behar’s journey back to the island to find answers to these questions. Unlike the exotic image projected by the American media, Behar uncovers a side of Cuban Jews that is poignant and personal. Her moving vignettes of the individuals she meets are coupled with the sensitive photographs of Havana-based photographer Humberto Mayol, who traveled with her.

Together, Behar’s poetic and compassionate prose and Mayol’s shadowy and riveting photographs create an unforgettable portrait of a community that many have seen though few have understood. This book is the first to show both the vitality and the heartbreak that lie behind the project of keeping alive the flame of Jewish memory in Cuba.

Reader Guide (http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu/pages/behar_reader_guide.aspx)

About this title

About the Author

RUTH BEHAR is a professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan. The recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellows award, she is the author of The Vulnerable Observer: Anthropology That Breaks Your Heart and director of the documentary, Adio Kerida (Goodbye Dear Love). Ruth's website is www.ruthbehar.com.

HUMBERTO MAYOL is an award-winning photographer living in Havana, Cuba. His work has been widely exhibited in Cuba, the United States, Europe, and Latin America.

From the Back Cover

As a child of five, Ruth Behar left Cuba for the U.S. with her Jewish family. She wondered about the Jews who stayed behind: their identity, their material history, and their caretakers of a unique Jewish legacy. An Island Called Home is the story of Behar's journey back to find answers to her questions. Behar uncovers a side of Cuban Jews that is both poignant and personal. Her moving vignettes of the individuals she meets are coupled with the sensitive photographs of Havana-based photographer Humberto Mayol, who traveled with her.

Edition details

• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0813545005
• ISBN 13: 9780813545004
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Humberto Mayol
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 320