Havana

From the 1906 United Hebrew Congregation (US Jews) to the Patronato (1925, Turkish/Syrian Jews) - reduced post-1959 to a small community centered on the Patronato (Beth Shalom).

Modern locality anchor

Havana

Cuba · City · 23.1°N 82.4°W

This anchor orients the sourced locality record. It is not a reconstructed historical position or border; the single map below provides geographic context.

View location

Where is Havana?

Land geometry: Natural Earth 1:50m via world-atlas. Pins mark modern localities or representative regional anchors stored on Atlas place records, not historical borders and not reconstructed positions. · Sources & methods

THE COMMUNITY TIMELINE · EVERY NODE DATED

What happened to the Jewish community of Havana?

1906–1959

1906-25 founding (American and Sephardic streams)

1959–1991

Post-revolution contraction

1991–present

Small revival-era community

Today

Small community; Patronato-centered.

LANGUAGES & COMMUNITY

What did Havana sound like?

Yiddish (ייִדיש)Hebrew (עברית, Ivrit)Ladino / Judeo-Spanish (Judezmo; Haketía)

Yiddish (ייִדיש) is a language with its own grammar, literature, and history — not “broken” anything, and not a dialect of Hebrew.

AFTER · IN FULL COLOR

What survives today?

In Havana

Small community; Patronato-centered.

Patronato (Beth Shalom)
synagogue and community center · public landmark
Built 1953; community hub.
Centro Hebreo Sefaradi
synagogue · public landmark

SOURCES & REVIEW

Vital Statistics: Jewish Population of the World (2024 country figures)
Jewish Virtual Library · 2024 · open source
Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed. (place entry)
Macmillan Reference USA · 2007

Reviewed 2026-07-30

Reading about Yiddish (ייִדיש) and Hebrew (עברית, Ivrit)? Baba can help you understand the languages in context →