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First Jewish Census Under Castro Shows 2,586 Jews in Cuba

September 27, 1963
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There are 1,022 Jewish families, totaling 2,586 persons, flow living in Cuba and identifying themselves with the Jewish community, it was reported here today on the basis of the first Jewish census taken by organized Jewry in this country since the present regime came to power.

The census was taken on the basis of those Jews who identified themselves as such through the purchase of matzoth for the last Passover. The computations were made by the Congregation Adath Israel, here, and the Zionist Federation, under the direction of Eliezer Oranowski. The officials in charge of the census said they were certain that there were other Jews in the country who were not enumerated.

Of the total of Jewish families registered in the census, 804, comprising 1,973 individuals, live in this capital city. Among these families, 536 declared themselves as Ashkenazic, and 268 as Sephardim. There are 79 Ashkenazic families, including 192 individuals, in the rest of the country; while the Sephardim in the rest of Cuba, outside Havana, number 139 families with 421 individuals.

A breakdown by ages of the statistics for Havana shows that 212 of the Jews here are children between the ages of 1 and 7; 203 are in the age bracked 7-25; 1,062 are aged 25-60; and 496 are aged 60 or over. (According to the American Jewish Year Book, the pre-Castro Jewish population of Cuba numbered “somewhat over 8,000.”)

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