By Elias Rimer
I spent the past few days on a Caribbean island born from the flames of a revolution. I went, not for a holiday (in the eyes of my teachers), but actually for an opera. On September 5th, I had my Bar-Mitzvah. In line with family tradition…I looked deep into my heart and decided that presents would never be as satisfying as finding a charity to contribute to…yeah right! My charity was to help the minority Jewish population in Cuba. I like the idea that understanding other people’s cultures makes for a more interesting and tolerant world. So, together with a brilliant U. Michigan anthropologist called Ruth Behar and Mike Weissenstein (my uncle who runs AP in Cuba) we thought up this project to fund a Jewish-Cuban show.
I could not believe the turnout. It was an opera, which at the essence was a story about Cuba’s culturally rich past, and evolved into an analogy of the island’s uproars for freedom. The cast’s erratic ethnicity of blacks, whites, native Americans, Eastern Europeans, Christians and Jews perfectly matched Cuba’s all-inclusive population.
Then, there was the actual plot. A Latino interpretation of a poem written by a Jewish immigrant who after being refused from America, migrated to Cuba. The opera takes place in a salsa club with this immigrant, Oscar Pinis, teaching the band’s singer about his unfinished poem. While he goes on with his writing, an affinity of one of Cuba’s revolutionary heroes, Hatuey, walks in. Hatuey was burned at the stake by the Spanish with his empowering last words “If Christians live in heaven, I would rather live in hell!” Oscar’s poem, initially about the hardships he’d faced as an immigrant, becomes his actual tale of overthrowing the decrepit Batista regime. Oscar and Hatuey’s historical paths are linked. The opera ends with an eighty people chorus harmonizing to the revolutionary chant “La Luz de Yara” in Yiddish and Spanish simultaneously. The audience leaves with fiery soul and spirit connected to the rich past of this tenacious island, ready to face all tyranny.
Unlike any other country I’ve travelled to, Cuba is the first true petri-dish of cultures I’ve experienced…in a world of melting-pots. Unlike the United States where no matter your ethnicity, you become strictly American, in Cuba there is a vast culture made from mixing Spain, nationalism, the 1950s and a whole bunch of communism. This makes for a once-in-a-lifetime, congruous experience. For instance, locals buy their movies from a hole in the wall ‘Netflix’ with a myriad of pirated USBs. Similarly, they write ‘Socialism or DIE’ on their front lawn while waiting for the black-market milkman.
At the beginning, giving away all my Bar Mitzvah money to create an opera in a third world country sounded like a senseless idea. Today, I can say without a doubt that it was one of the greatest things I’ve done. Whenever you can, try to turn down just another inane gift, like a new drone or a branded hoodie. Instead, try to channel those resources to create something that leaves people with their minds filled with the beautiful stories that our world breeds. In the end, that’s really what will be remembered, that and the ceviche of course.
Havana, Cuba
