Jun 24, 2009, 07:27 PM
sun-sentinel.com/news/local/cuba/sfl-fljjdccuban0624jjdcjun24,0,5055756.story
South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Blast from the past Former Cuban Jewish classmates reunite
By Sergio Carmona
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
June 24, 2009
Former students of Centro Israelita de Cuba, a Jewish school in Havana that Fidel Castro shut down around 1961, have enjoyed a blast from the past the last few months with class reunions. The festivities started the weekend of April 24-27 when would be sixth-grade graduates of the schools '61 class reunited for a cruise through the Bahamas and continued on June 6 when its 1959 high school graduation class got together for a 50-year reunion at Temple Beth Shmuel-Cuban Hebrew Congregation's Shabbat service in Miami Beach.
"It was very nice to get to see people who normally, even though they live in Miami, don't necessarily get together because sometimes we live in a busy world and we all have our own little niche that we stick to," said Ida Roisman, a Miami resident who co-lead the group that sailed on the Majesty of the Seas cruise ship in April.
Roisman and her fellow classmate, friend, and co-leader for the cruise, Brenda Rubin Mendez, a Coral Gables resident, both enjoyed catching up with the lives of former classmates, including one who conducted a Shabbat service the first night of the cruise as he was much more religious and observant then he was in their school days.
"We did a lot of catching up," Rubin Mendez said. "For example, the one who turned religious, we were very interested on how he went about becoming religious. We also have an artist in the group who has traveled the world singing and giving performances and he even has CDs and stuff, so we found out about other people's lives and what they have done in this span of 48 and 49 years and that was an interesting part."
During the cruise, the group also recollected on dance performances, recess, after school programs, and classes. Roisman also recalled a moment in the cruise when they were sitting in a bonfire setting at a club singing all the school, Israeli, and children songs that they remember.
"It was so warm to see that even 48-50 years later, we were still the same," Roisman said. "We were still the students that went to school together. We were still the kids who played together."
The group is already planning a dinner on July 25 to bring closure to the trip. During the reunion at Cuban Hebrew Congregation, the '59 graduates looked at old school photos and at a yearbook that Mario Chizyk, the class valedictorian who delivered his graduation speech in Yiddish, put together. Alum Fanny Bemoiras, a North Bay Village resident who brought her 89-year old mother Cecilia Silber to the reunion, said that during the reunion, it felt like time didn't pass.
"There were people we didn't see for 50 years and we felt very nice and happy that we're alive and able to be together," she said.
The class also sang its alma matter that alum Rosa Zipper's father, Abraham Vainstein, wrote in Yiddish. Zipper, an Aventura resident, felt like crying when they sang the song.
"It was like an honor for him to be remembered and it's a beautiful anthem, it really is," she said.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/c...5756.story
Copyright © 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Blast from the past Former Cuban Jewish classmates reunite
By Sergio Carmona
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
June 24, 2009
Former students of Centro Israelita de Cuba, a Jewish school in Havana that Fidel Castro shut down around 1961, have enjoyed a blast from the past the last few months with class reunions. The festivities started the weekend of April 24-27 when would be sixth-grade graduates of the schools '61 class reunited for a cruise through the Bahamas and continued on June 6 when its 1959 high school graduation class got together for a 50-year reunion at Temple Beth Shmuel-Cuban Hebrew Congregation's Shabbat service in Miami Beach.
"It was very nice to get to see people who normally, even though they live in Miami, don't necessarily get together because sometimes we live in a busy world and we all have our own little niche that we stick to," said Ida Roisman, a Miami resident who co-lead the group that sailed on the Majesty of the Seas cruise ship in April.
Roisman and her fellow classmate, friend, and co-leader for the cruise, Brenda Rubin Mendez, a Coral Gables resident, both enjoyed catching up with the lives of former classmates, including one who conducted a Shabbat service the first night of the cruise as he was much more religious and observant then he was in their school days.
"We did a lot of catching up," Rubin Mendez said. "For example, the one who turned religious, we were very interested on how he went about becoming religious. We also have an artist in the group who has traveled the world singing and giving performances and he even has CDs and stuff, so we found out about other people's lives and what they have done in this span of 48 and 49 years and that was an interesting part."
During the cruise, the group also recollected on dance performances, recess, after school programs, and classes. Roisman also recalled a moment in the cruise when they were sitting in a bonfire setting at a club singing all the school, Israeli, and children songs that they remember.
"It was so warm to see that even 48-50 years later, we were still the same," Roisman said. "We were still the students that went to school together. We were still the kids who played together."
The group is already planning a dinner on July 25 to bring closure to the trip. During the reunion at Cuban Hebrew Congregation, the '59 graduates looked at old school photos and at a yearbook that Mario Chizyk, the class valedictorian who delivered his graduation speech in Yiddish, put together. Alum Fanny Bemoiras, a North Bay Village resident who brought her 89-year old mother Cecilia Silber to the reunion, said that during the reunion, it felt like time didn't pass.
"There were people we didn't see for 50 years and we felt very nice and happy that we're alive and able to be together," she said.
The class also sang its alma matter that alum Rosa Zipper's father, Abraham Vainstein, wrote in Yiddish. Zipper, an Aventura resident, felt like crying when they sang the song.
"It was like an honor for him to be remembered and it's a beautiful anthem, it really is," she said.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/c...5756.story
Copyright © 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel