A Mezuzah in Cuba
Affixing a Mezuza at the 2023 inauguration of the new Chabad Center in Berlin, the largest Jewish Center in Germany since the Holocaust
In 2011, as young Rabbinical students, a friend and I were assigned to visit Cuba and assist the small Jewish community there with their High Holiday needs. Our responsibilities involved leading services, hosting Kosher holiday meals, and providing much-needed basic necessities for the impoverished local Jewish community. Additionally, we were to assist local Jewish tourists and visiting business people in celebrating the holidays.
In the days leading up to the High Holidays, we spent time meeting with local Jewish residents in their homes, offering them the opportunity to learn more about their Jewish heritage and providing them with both physical and spiritual nourishment.
A few hours before Rosh Hashanah began, while we were busy with last-minute preparations, we were pleasantly surprised to see our next-door neighbor wearing a Yarmulkah (Kippah), a rare sight in Havana. Intrigued, we introduced ourselves, and the friendly gentleman welcomed us into his home. Despite our limited Spanish language skills, we managed to communicate.
He shared his personal life story, revealing that his parents were Holocaust survivors who had come to Cuba to escape the anti-Semitism they had faced in Europe. They had kept his Jewish identity hidden from him until he was older, trying to protect him from the traumas they had experienced. After their passing, he discovered an old prayer book, a Talit, and a Yarmulkah among their belongings.
Despite not knowing how to pray and not being involved with the local Jewish community, he chose to wear the Yarmulkah as a way of commemorating the approaching auspicious day. He also expressed regret for never having celebrated his Bar Mitzvah and his desire to put up a Mezuzah on his door, something he had not been able to obtain until then.
Moved by our new friend's history and his desire to connect with his heritage, we invited him to join us for Rosh Hashanah dinner at our "Casa Particular" (Cuban equivalent of Airbnb). After the holiday, we helped him celebrate his Bar Mitzvah by donning Tefillin for the first time, and we assisted him in affixing a Mezuzah on his door.
Amid the recent unfortunate rise of overt expressions of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment, we may be tempted to be less conspicuous about our Jewish identity, hoping it would protect us from our enemies. However, history has proven time and again that surrendering to bigotry and compromising our values has never been a winning strategy.
Instead, now more than ever, our response must come from a place of strength and confidence by reconnecting with our Jewish identity through educating ourselves about our rich Jewish heritage and traditions and by proudly displaying our Judaism and observance of Mitzvot.
As our Sages have famously taught, “gentiles respect Jews who respect themselves”.
In this week's Torah portion, we learn about the Mitzvah of affixing a Mezuzah on our door. As the verse states, “And you shall inscribe them upon the doorposts of your house and upon your gates.”- Deuteronomy 6:8
The Mezuzah is a small parchment scroll upon which the Hebrew words of the Shema are handwritten by a scribe. Every single letter in the Mezuzah must be properly formed. A single crack in the parchment or any omission can invalidate the entire scroll. A printed Mezuzah is invalid. For this reason it is vital that it be purchased from a reputable scribe or retailer.
Judaism is not confined to the synagogue. We strive for spirituality especially in the comfort and familiarity of our own homes and businesses. The Mezuzah on our doorpost reminds us of our connection to G‑d and our heritage and that G‑d's protection and care accompany us wherever we go.
Our sages teach that a Mezuzah has the unique property of protecting the inhabitants of the home where it is hung—whether the inhabitants are inside or outside that home. The Mezuzah can be compared to a “helmet,” a veneer that protects us against the dangers that surround us in our lives.
G‑d promises that anyone who carefully observes the mitzvah of mezuzah will lead a longer, richer life, as will their descendants.
By affixing a mezuzah to the doorposts of our homes, we affirm that everything we possess and all aspects of our lives are infused with a higher purpose and a dedication to G-d. Affixing the mezuzah to the doorpost of the home's entrance to the outdoors—in addition to the doorposts of all inner doorways—is an affirmation that the ideals and Divine consciousness inscribed on the mezuzah are meant to accompany us when we leave our homes, as well.
In addition to providing us with physical safety, the Mezuzah protects us spiritually as well from the materialistic enticements we may encounter in our journey through life.
Let us respond to anti-Semitism by ensuring that our homes are secure with a Kosher Mezuzah and by assisting our Jewish friends and neighbors with obtaining their own Mezuzahs as well.
Judaism teaches us that the ultimate purpose of creation of the world in general, and each of us individually, is to make a home for G-d in this physical world.
Just as the land of Israel represents the homeland of the Jewish people, our responsibility is to positively transform the whole world into G-d's home by making Him feel comfortable wherever we may find ourselves. Through doing our part, this global home will be fully expressed in the era of redemption, may it happen speedily in our days.
