The Secret History Of The Jewish Caribbean

A vacation favorite for year-round sunny skies and sandy beaches, the Caribbean is also an intriguing potpourri of diverse communities.  Loud and proud, the story of Jewish ties to the Caribbean is a fascinating one, dating back to Christopher Columbus and his first trans-Atlantic voyage. Home to some of the oldest Jewish communities in the Americas, the Caribbean also lays claim to synagogues with sandy floors, cemeteries that date back hundreds of years and Jewish families who still call the islands home. Whether you’re planning to marry in a Jewish ceremony, host a Bar Mitzvah, celebrateRosh Hashanah from September 13 – 15, observe Yom Kippur  from September 22 -23 or simply have a hankering for a good pastrami sandwich, check out our sampling of Caribbean Jewish roots.

Jamaica 

In a striking white building on Duke Street in Kingston, the synagogue called the United Congregation of Israelites or Shaare Shalom is a licensed attraction by the Jamaica Tourist Board. (Photo: Jamaica Tourism Board)

With a smile as wide as the sea, Ainsley Henriques is delighted to show-off the synagogue that is near and dear to him. The affable grandfather is not only the Director of Jamaica's only synagogue; he’s also the enthusiastic keeper of Jewish Jamaican history, which dates back to 1494 when Spanish JewLuis de Torres sailed to Jamaica as Christopher Columbus’s interpreter. In a striking white building on Duke Street in Kingston, the synagogue called the United Congregation of Israelites or Shaare Shalom has a sandy floor as a memorial to the Jews who once practiced in secret. A shrine to the past and a beacon for the future, the synagogue is a licensed attraction by the Jamaica Tourist Board. "We now have something in common with the Bob Marley Museum and coffee tours to the Blue Mountains," Henriques smiles. For visitors, the century-old synagogue is open Mondays to Thursdays between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., for prayers on Friday and Saturday and for holiday celebrations. Next door, the Jamaican Jewish Heritage Centre is also open to the public. In Montego Bay, Chabad Lubavitch — a New York based Jewish outreach organization with over 3,000 centers in 65 countries — is open near Sandals Royal Caribbean for holiday services, kosher meals and advice about weddings and bar mitzvahs. For history buffs, Jewish Jamaica offers tours to the port town ofFalmouth where prosperous Jewish families once lived. You'll be shown around Jewish-owned sugar plantations and Great Houses and cemeteries like the one in Montego Bay next to the synagogue that was wiped out during the 1912 hurricane. For information about Sandals all-inclusive resorts please visit: http://www.sandals.com/all-inclusive/

Cayman Islands

Although there is not a synagogue per se, Chabad House is the go-to-spot for the 300-500 Jews calling the Cayman Islands home and tourists who may want to marry on the island. (Photo: Chabad Cayman)

On Grand Cayman in the Seven Mile Beach strip across the street from the Marriott Resort and the Queen’s Court Plaza, Chabad House is a community center with programs like a Hebrew School, classes for moms and tots, Sabbath prayers open to everyone and holiday celebrations that are particularly lively affairs. Although there is not a synagogue per se, Chabad House is the go-to-spot for the 300-500 Jews calling the Cayman Islands home and tourists who may want to marry on the island. For religious Jews, there is a surprisingly big selection of kosher food at Foster's Food Fair and Kirk Market and for those on the hunt for a pastrami or corned beef sandwich, Foster's at the Strand in the Seven Mile Beach area is the store of choice. For the Jewish New Year, Ritz-Carlton is hosting a holiday dinner with tickets priced at USD $45.00 for adults and USD$30.00 for children. In addition to a grand dinner at the grand resort, Israel’s Soul Key Choir is providing the evening's entertainment.

Barbados

Nidhe Israel, also known as Bridgetown Jewish Synagogue was bought back by the Jewish community in 1983. (Photo: Jewish Treasures of the Caribbean)

The only synagogue in Barbados, Nidhe Israel, also known as Bridgetown Jewish Synagogue, is also one of the oldest synagogues in the western hemisphere and a Barbados National Trust property. Built in 1654, destroyed by a hurricane in 1831, rebuilt years later and eventually sold in 1929, the 350-year-old house of worship was bought back by the Jewish community in 1983 and today is striking with Gothic arches, grand chandelier and a stained-glass window etched with the Star of David. The first Jews in Barbados arrived from Brazil in the 1600’s, bringing with them the windmill technology that made the sugar industry hugely profitable. By 1925, just a few remained although more families emigrated during the Holocaust. Adjacent to the synagogue, the cemetery is interesting to see with graves that date to the 1660’s, including those of Samuel Hart, founder of the Great Synagogue of London and Moses Hart, the first Jew to live in Virginia. Within walking distance of Nelson’s Statue and Queens Park, Nidhe Israel Synagogue and Museum is open for tours Monday – Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

St. Thomas

Jews first settled on St. Thomas in 1655, but a Congregation wasn't officially founded until 1796. Only nine Jewish families belonged to the congregation in 1801, but by 1803 it had increased to 22, with arrivals from Holland, England, France, and the islands of St. Eustatius and Curaçao. (Photo: Steve Rockstein)

Jews first settled on the then Danish-ruled island in 1655, but a Congregation wasn't officially founded until 1796. Only nine Jewish families belonged to the congregation in 1801, but by 1803 it had increased to 22, with arrivals from Holland, England, France, and the islands of St. Eustatius and Curaçao. Finally, in 1833 the synagogue called the Hebrew Congregation of St Thomas was built; the oldest in continuous use under the American flag (St. Thomas is part of the US Virgin Islands which is an American territory). Famous Jews born on St. Thomas include David Levy Yulee, Florida’s first senator and French Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro. Similar to many synagogues in the Caribbean, the floor is made of sand, honoring the Spanish Jews who were forced to pray secretly to avoid religious persecution. Visitors are invited to join the Friday and Saturday prayer services and those held on the holidays.  

Dominican Republic

Regardless, if you head to the courtyard in the center of town, you'll find the synagogue and next to it, the Jewish Museum. Built of wood and painted white and turquoise on the outside, the synagogue is the preferred wedding locale for Jewish couples from abroad. (Photo: sosuavillas.com)

Sousa is a typical tropical town with an atypical history as a haven for Jewish refugees. Better known for baseball and palm-lined beaches than as a sanctuary for Jews, Sosua was an isolated community on the north coast when in 1938, hundreds of Jews fleeing Nazi persecution in Germany, Austria and Poland were offered entry by the ruler of the Dominican Republic at that time. One thousand visas were issued, 650 Jews arrived and were given land to cultivate and animals to rise. The community opened a milk processing factory and other businesses that turned a profit. As to how many Jews remain in Sosua today, it depends who you ask. Many have left for New York and more to Miami where thousands of the descendants of Sosua’s original Jews still live. Regardless, if you head to the courtyard in the center of town, you'll find the synagogue and next to it, the Jewish Museum. Built of wood and painted white and turquoise on the outside, the synagogue is the preferred wedding locale for Jewish couples from abroad. There are no organized tours of the museum or of the synagogue but chances are someone will be there if you arrive in the early morning. Sosua is having something of a renaissance, with the opening of the Puerto Plata International Airport four miles from the town. Resorts were built to meet increased demand, like the new Gansevoort Dominican Republic; a five minute stroll from the synagogue. As a nod to the increasing number of Jewish guests interested in learning about the town's history, a kosher market will open in the resort next year.

Curacao 

An architectural jewel in the capital city of Willemstad, the synagogue is visually spectacular with a solid mahogany interior, 18th-century copper chandeliers and a sandy floor as a tribute to those who fled religious persecution. (Photo: Curacao Tourist Board)

Home to the oldest Jewish community in the Caribbean, Curacao's first arrivals came in 1651 when a dozen families from Amsterdam landed on the island's shores. They built the Mikve Israel-Emanuelsynagogue, which is the oldest synagogue in continuous use in the Americas. An architectural jewel in the capital city of Willemstad, the synagogue is visually spectacular with a solid mahogany interior, 18th-century copper chandeliers and a sandy floor as a tribute to those who fled religious persecution. For nearly three centuries, Sephardic Jews — those of Spanish origin — were the only Jews on the island. In the 1920’s, an influx of Ashkenazi Jews or those with Eastern European roots arrived and although the Jewish community has shrunk in recent years, Sabbath services are still conducted every weekend with Rabbi Hazzan Avery Tracht welcoming visitors from the cruise ships that dock in the picturesque harbor and tourists vacationing on the island. There is no cost to visit the synagogue, however, appropriate dress is encouraged which means no sleeveless clothing for women and button-down jackets for men. Connected to the synagogue, the Jewish Cultural Historical Museum houses artifacts like 300-year-old Torah scrolls that were brought from Spain and a 200-year-old silver tray from Holland that is still used for the smashing of the wineglass during wedding ceremonies. The adjacent gift shop stocks a good selection of souvenirs and cookbooks.

Nevis

Today, the only visible reminder of this once-thriving community is the Jewish Cemetery on Government Road, close to the Pier in the capital city of Charlestown. (Photo: Jews of the Caribbean)

Over 300 years ago, the little island across the channel from St. Kitts was once home to dozens of hard-working Jews whose story makes up a little-known chapter of Caribbean Jewish history. The 1678 census listed eight Jewish families during a time when the bustling sugarcane industry made Nevis a Caribbean powerhouse. Drawn to the prosperity were Sephardic Jews who had been expelled from Brazil after the Portuguese regained control from the Dutch. By the early 1700’s, dozens of Jewish families had arrived in Nevis, building a synagogue and a school.  A century later, the sugar industry went bust and the Jews moved away in search of new jobs, their stores and homes left behind. The synagogue and school were closed.  Details are sketchy but archives indicate the synagogue was built in 1684, was in ruins by 1809 and completely gone in 1846. Today, the only visible reminder of this once-thriving community is the Jewish Cemetery on Government Road, close to the Pier in the capital city of Charlestown. In in the middle of what was the Jewish neighbourhood, grave markers are inscribed in Portuguese, Hebrew and English and date from 1769 with names like Marache, Pinheiro and Cohen. Surrounded by a cement cinderblock wall, the cemetery was re-dedicated in 1971 after a Philadelphia couple organized the cleanup of the gravestones. Today the sacred grounds are manicured by the Nevis Historical and Conservation Society. A typical Caribbean clapboard house that was built on the land where the synagogue once stood. Sadly, no artifacts have been recovered from the site: historians believe the congregants took the valuables with them when they left the island.

St. Maarten

The new synagogue will also house a preschool and learning center for the 300 Jewish residents on the island (that number swells to more than 1,000 during the winter). (Photo: jewishsxm.com)

For the first time since 1781, the Jewish community in St. Maarten will have its own synagogue when construction on the Old Rock building in Simpson Bay is complete next year. The new synagogue will also house a preschool and learning center for the 300 Jewish residents on the island (that number swells to more than 1,000 during the winter). A little-told chapter in St. Maarten history, Jews arrived in 1732 and built a synagogue on the site of the Guavaberry Emporium in Phillipsburg, but the site was abandoned in 1781. When the first wave of tourism hit the island in the 1960’s, American Jews discovered St. Maarten as a winter getaway, and it has only grown in popularity. Since 2009, Rabbi Moishe Chanowitz and his wife Sara have been hosting celebrations and conducting prayer services at Chabad St. Maarten above the Zee Best Bakery also in Simpson Bay. Born in Maryland with time spent in Los Angeles, Paris and New York, the Rabbi is now enjoying life on a tropical island, "We got used to the power shutting down every now and then," he smiles, "but when it happens on a Friday afternoon during cooking preparations, you can imagine what's left of our Shabbat dinner, however, we've learned to go with the flow." In addition to the much anticipated opening of the new synagogue, Le Grand Marche in Cole Bay and Philipsburg carries a big selection of kosher food.

By Melanie Reffes, Special for USA TODAY

8 Things You Might Not Know About Jamaica

Unless you've been stuck in a mine shaft or visiting a distant planet for the past few decades, chances are you've heard of Bob Marley and Usain Bolt and can identify both as the most famous sons of Jamaican soil.

Beyond reggae and track icons, however, there are many fascinating things less widely known about "Jamrock" that make this island of just 3 million people stand out.

Here are eight things to know for starters:

James Bond's birthplace

Ian Fleming conjured up and penned the thrilling international spy novels known the world over by their larger-than-life, women- and evildoer-conquering protagonist, James Bond, in Oracabessa, a sleepy village in the parish of St. Mary on Jamaica's north coast.

Fleming named his rustic property Goldeneye after a World War II operation in which he'd taken part as an intelligence officer. An avid birder, Fleming took 007's name from the American author of "Birds of the West Indies."

The first James Bond film, "Dr. No," was filmed in Jamaica, where the villain's lair, actually a bauxite storage facility owned by Noranda, is hard to miss in Discovery Bay.

And later in the film, Ursula Andress walked out of the surf and into movie history at one of Jamaica's most spectacular beaches, Laughing Waters, located just west of Ocho Rios, where cool river water cascades directly into the warm Caribbean sea.

After Fleming's death, his Goldeneye property was sold to Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, who has transformed it into Jamaica's most exclusive boutique hotel and villa resort.

Roots of banana trade and Caribbean tourism

Jamaica gave birth to the global banana trade and Caribbean tourism. In the late 1800s, steamships began plying routes between the Northeast United States and the parishes of St. Thomas, Portland and St. Mary in northeast Jamaica.

When these steamships began carrying passengers seeking relief from the New England winter on the southbound journey, Caribbean tourism was born.

The Blue Mountains are a lovely alternative to the island's beaches.

Steamship captain Lorenzo Dow Baker was a pioneer in the banana trade and served as president of the Boston Fruit Company, which later became United Fruit Company through a merger and more recently became Chiquita Brands International.

The banana industry waned in Jamaica in the face of crop disease and larger, more competitive plantations established in Central America. Today the island's largest banana grower is Jamaica Producers, a locally held company that targets domestic and international markets with a range of agricultural products.

Delicious coffee

Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee is among the most prized, and expensive, in the world, fetching upwards of U.S.$30 a pound.

High elevation cloud forests make for an ideal long growing season and slow maturation period for coffee berries, ultimately yielding beans with a strong, full-bodied flavor void of the bitterness typical of coffee grown in other regions.

Japanese coffee connoisseurs are the leading buyers of Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee, which is a registered international trademark like Champagne, and regulated by Jamaica's Coffee Industry Board.

One of the best ways to learn about and taste Jamaica's coffee is with a farm or factory tour. The Twyman family's Old Tavern Estate is an excellent option, offering visitors a trip back in time to the days of small-scale cottage industry production.

The Sharp family operates the neighboring Clifton Mount coffee farm with a slightly larger scale, more industrialized business.

Mavis Bank Coffee Factory also offers tours. The buzzing factory buys its beans from thousands of farmers and is the largest industrial coffee processing and roasting operation in the Blue Mountains that opens its doors to visitors.

Few Rastafarians

While locked hair might be the most famous "do" associated with the island, Jamaican adherents to the Rastafarian movement make up less than 2% of the population, actually just 1.1%, according to the CIA World Factbook.

The iconic natural hairstyles associated with Rastafarians are anything but the norm on the island, where instead, chemically treated straightened hair, extensions, weaves and wigs are the norm for women, and most men rock short-cropped coifs.

A refuge for exiled Jews and religious diversity

Jamaica became a refuge for exiled Jews fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. The Spanish crown, which ruled the island between 1492 and 1655, took a more relaxed stance on religious freedom, or at least a "don't ask, don't tell" approach.

Kingston's active synagogue attests to the island's small, yet prominent, Jewish community today.

Today Jamaica has more churches per capita than any other country. The Anglican Church played a significant role during the slave period in maintaining order on the island and quelling discontent, while the Baptist Church, on the other hand, fueled slave uprisings ultimately leading to emancipation in 1834.

It would be difficult to find a religion not represented in Jamaica, and where a church structure doesn't exist, Jamaicans are inclined to erect a tent for pop-up service.

Pentecostals, Moravians, Catholics, Methodists, Seventh Day Adventists, Revivalists, Muslims, Hindus, Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses are all well represented, among numerous other faiths and denominations.

Marijuana is illegal in Jamaica

Despite the ubiquitous posters of Bob Marley and Peter Tosh with burning joints dangling from their mouths, marijuana is still illegal in Jamaica.

But its legal status is slowly evolving. This year legislation was introduced to decriminalize marijuana use and develop a regulated medical and recreational marijuana industry following similar U.S. initiatives in Colorado and Washington State.

The movement to decriminalize has been led in the political sphere by Minister of Justice Mark Golding, who announced in June that people carrying up to 2 ounces of pot will only be hit with a small fine, rather than be charged, and the infraction wouldn't result in a police record.

Jamaicans with police records attributable to marijuana use charges will have their names cleared, enabling them to seek formal employment and travel visas.

Jamaica is more than sun and sand

The original name Xaymaca, bestowed by its original Taino inhabitants, means "land of wood and water," fitting for a mountainous island endowed with several distinct climatic zones, from arid near-desert conditions complete with sand dunes along the south coast to tropical rain forest in the northeast to high elevation alpine areas where nighttime temperatures fall below freezing in the Blue and John Crow Mountains.

This climatic diversity and abundant fresh water from subterranean springs and rivers crisscrossing every parish, affords the relatively small island excellent conditions for growing a wide range of crops.

A hike up to Blue Mountain Peak is a great way to take a break from the beach and get a bit of a workout.

On a clear day, the summit affords spectacular views of Kingston and the coastline of several parishes meeting the Caribbean sea to the East, North and South. The Blue Mountains also provide bird watchers an opportunity to spot many of the island's 280 species, 30 of which are endemic.

Jamaican food is reason enough to visit the island

While the country may be known for its jerk seasoning, which features local agricultural products like pimento (allspice) and hot Scotch bonnet peppers, Jamaican cuisine has much more to offer and the island's lively foodie culture may be the best representation of its national motto, "Out of Many, One People."

The influence of Indian cuisine is hard to miss, and curried goat, shrimp, lobster or vegetables are staples.

Of course the seafood is hard to beat, with escovitch snapper borrowing elements from Spanish cuisine, while the accompaniment of fried bammy, made from cassava root, couldn't be more local, as it was a staple starch for the original Taino inhabitants.

The abundant fresh produce and quality of the ingredients on the island make it a natural manufacturing center for entrepreneurs concocting a wide array of sauces and preserves for the local market and export. Pickapeppa may be the most widely known condiment produced in Jamaica, but other more recent products on the scene, from Walkerswood to Belcour Preserves, are every bit as good.

To get a taste of Jamaica's best flavors, stop by Belcour in Maryland district in the Blue Mountains to sample mouthwatering chutneys, pepper sauces and preserves and walk among citrus orchards, orchid gardens and the apiary, or spend a few nights on the town in Kingston to sample the island's best restaurants.

Jakes boutique resort in Treasure Beach holds regular farm-to-table dinners that are lively affairs featuring a rotating cast of guest chefs.

Contributed by Oliver Hill, CNN

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