Helping Jews in Cuba Celebrate Hanukkah

Many of the 35 people gathered at the Northridge craft store had never painted. Others were regulars at Kids N’ Paint, where customers decorate ceramic gifts or have art-oriented parties for birthdays and other special occasions.

But they all felt a connection to the menorahs they painted as gifts for 90 Jews in Santiago, Cuba--many of whom this year will celebrate Hanukkah for the first time. The observance begins at sundown Dec. 23.

For project organizer Phil Blazer, publisher of the Los Angeles Jewish News, the connection stemmed from meeting two Santiago teachers visiting the San Fernando Valley last summer. They told him that generations of Santiago’s Jews had never celebrated Hanukkah because the communist authorities did not permit it. They also lacked the menorahs and candles needed for Hanukkah, the eight-day celebration that commemorates Jewish religious freedom.

Instead of buying menorahs for the town’s 30 Jewish families, Blazer invited Valley residents to paint ceramic ones, which will arrive in Santiago on Wednesday with gift tags that list the names and addresses of the donors.

The town’s Jewish families recently repurchased the synagogue in Santiago from the Cuban government. Authorities had declared it state property after the 1959 Cuban Revolution and converted it into a nightclub.