35 Paint Menorahs for Cuban Jews

Many of the 35 people gathered at Kids N’ Paint last week had never painted. Others were regulars at the craft store, where customers paint ceramic gifts or have painting 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 their first Hanukkah, which 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.

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.

“We in America take a lot for granted,” Blazer said. “When we meet people who have suffered and see how they cherish freedom, you have to connect with them.”

The painters listened to Hanukkah music as they marbleized, paint-splattered or painted delicate flowers and grapevines on the menorahs. They took turns looking at a picture of the Santiago synagogue, which the town’s Jewish families recently repurchased from the Cuban government. Authorities had declared it state property after the 1959 Cuban revolution and converted it into a nightclub.

Among the menorah makers was Ana Rofe of Granada Hills, who jokingly offers to take the items to Cuba, from which she and her family fled in 1962.

Her father settled in Cuba after escaping German persecution in Poland in the 1930s.

Rofe hopes the menorahs will help other Cuban families start a Hanukkah tradition.