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Cuban Jewish Leader Close
To Castro
Larry Luxner. JTA Wire
Service. Baltimore
Jewish Times, March 26, 2006.
It was December 1999, barely two years
after Pope John Paul II's visit to officially
atheist Cuba, and Fidel Castro was meeting
with 70 religious leaders on the touchy
subject of declaring Dec. 25 a national
holiday.
Castro turned to Dr. Jose Miller, president
of Cuba's tiny Jewish community, and asked
for his opinion of Christmas, given that
no Jewish holidays were being given equal
consideration.
Miller stood up and declared that "as
a Jew, I would feel very happy with the
designation of Dec. 25 as a national holiday,
because after all, what is Christmas if
not the celebration of one of the greatest
Jews in history, Jesus of Nazareth?"
That story is told by Rev. Jose Lopez, secretary
of the Cuban Council of Churches. Lopez
considered himself a close friend of Miller,
who died Feb. 27 at age 80.
"We will never forget his words on
many occasions that showed his love for
Cuba, his Jewish principles and affection
for his Christian brethren," Lopez
said.
"He was the person who, for many years,
insisted that the Jewish community belong
to the Cuban Council of Churches. He always
got the same answer, that we were an organization
of churches, of believers in Christ,"
he said, adding that finally, after careful
consideration, Miller was welcomed as a
"fraternal associate" and thereafter
invited to all official functions.
Eddie Levy, chairman of the South Florida
organization Jewish Solidarity, told the
Miami Herald, "If there is a Jewish
community in Cuba, it's because of his leadership.
It was his job, his work, his life."
Miller was born in Sancti Spiritus province
in 1925; his parents had moved to Cuba from
Lithuania in the early 1900s. He studied
dentistry at the University of Havana and
was considered one of the island's best
specialists in facial reconstruction surgery.
Since 1981, Miller also had been the president
of the Patronato, a large synagogue in Havana's
once-fashionable Vedado district. After
a heart attack forced him to retire in 1994,
Miller dedicated himself to saving Cuba's
dwindling Jewish community from extinction.
To that end, he managed to revive smaller
synagogues in Camaguey and Santiago de Cuba.
But he was criticized by Cuban exiles in
Miami as a tool of the Castro regime for
refusing to support the dissident movement
or speak out against repression in Cuba.
"The government does not manipulate
me," Miller insisted in a 2003 interview
with JTA. "What interests me is how
Castro acts toward the Jewish community.
I don't ask anyone in the Jewish community
what he thinks about politics. We're not
pro-Castro or anti-Castro here. If someone
wants to be a dissident, let him be one
-- but not inside the Patronato."
Avner Tavori, a spokesman for the World
Jewish Congress, called Miller "a veteran
friend and leader of the Jewish community
in Cuba, where he maintained authentic Judaism
in the most creative way."
Praise also came from Stanley Cohen, international
chairman of the B'nai B'rith Cuban Jewish
Relief Project.
"Dr. Miller was a true humanitarian
and leader, and without his guidance over
these many years, I do not believe that
the community could be as vibrant as it
is today," said Cohen, who knew Miller
for more than 10 years. "He was not
only a good friend, but a brother in our
work to make the Jewish community of Cuba
strong. At this point, I have no idea who
will take his place."
Copyright ©2006 the Baltimore Jewish
Times
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