Being Jewish in Nicaragua

While away from your normal setting, your normal community, your comfort zone, you may notice that you tend to long for some of those past comforts in a way that can be almost extreme. While abroad, you may actually become more American. You may think about peanut butter way too much, devour American chocolate even though it really isn’t that good, and think about all those fast food restaurants that at home you deemed unhealthy. It is true that you miss certain parts of your old life but I believe that many times you feel as if you are missing part of your identity, as in all those things in your old environment that have helped to define you, and now that you are left without them, you tend to search for those missing parts. Only once you understand that it is you, and not your environment, who defines your identity, can you actually leave your obsessions and thoughts behind and begin to live your life…..the way it should be lived….in the moment….enjoying yourself….not thinking too much outside of your personal reality.

While I am not entirely sure what that first paragraph has to do with being Jewish, I am still going to try to relate the two. Being Jewish is an amazing cultural experience that allows you to feel part of a community no matter where you are in the world. For me being Jewish is a huge part of my personal identity. I grew up being and feeling Jewish so when I enter situations in which it becomes more difficult for me to feel the Jewishness around me, I will seek it out. It helps me to keep my identity intact.

Ok so I know I did not do the best job relating those first two paragraphs but nonetheless we have arrived at paragraph number three. The part where I tell you all about the Jewish community in Nicaragua and how I spent the holidays. Before coming to country, I contacted the American Jewish World Service which does good work around the world and has an office in Central America. It turns out that the office is actually based in Managua and they forwarded me the email address of a member of the Nicaraguan Jewish community named Carlos Roman. After about a month and a half in country, I finally met up with Carlos and we went to a lecture he was giving on the history of the state of Israel. Carlos is born and bred Nicaraguan but has spent stints in Miami, New York, and Israel and thus speaks both English and Hebrew very well. He officially moved back to Nicaragua a few years ago to ensure that the Jewish community stays alive here. And as it currently stands, it is living, but I would be it on the endangered species list if there were lists for such a thing. In total, there are probably 60 active Jews in the country compared to its apparent height of 250 Jews back in the 1970s. And I am sure that there are more Jews in the country at any given moment but 60 seems about right as far as the number of Jews that one could mobilize or contact within some notice. For more of the Jewish history in Nicaragua, you can check out the Wikipedia article “Jewish Nicargua.”

After moving to Granada, the mother of Kurt, a member of the Jewish community, became very ill and a service was organized to pray for her health. It turns out that she died a week later and then a Jewish funeral was held in the tiny Jewish section of a Managua cemetery. Then the following week a memorial service was held at Kurt’s house. Through these get-togethers I was able to meet a vast majority of the community and eat A LOT of food. The people I met were all generally friendly and it was nice to see the familiarities that come with the Jewish culture.

So as the holidays approached the community organized a Rosh Hashana dinner. About 35 people showed up for the short service and the feast that followed. Guess who led this short service? Because Carlos was in New York for the high holidays, the job was left to ME! Yeah, so Avi Richman led the shortest, most incorrect, Rosh Hashana service out there. We did a few prayers including the amidah, shema, aleinu, kaddish, and then did all the blessings for Rosh Hashana. It was quite funny and I laughed to myself and out loud as I read the Hebrew during the service. It is unfortunate that I have no idea how to lead a Rosh Hashana service but the people there seemed to appreciate the effort and all congratulated me afterwards.

Rosh Hashana! Look who’s at the head of the table!

Some Israeli kids hanging out…

L’Chaim!

Lots of delicious food.

Let’s just say I was full after this meal.

Peace Corps Nicaragua does apples n’ honey

Just Jews chillin’

More Jews.

Second night of Rosh Hashana. I made matza ball soup.

At the dinner there were Nicaraguans, other Latinos, Americans (mostly retired), Peace Corps Volunteers, an Israeli family, and then scattered other people. As you may imagine, it is a very mixed, bizarre community with people speaking all different languages. Spanish is obviously the primary language but there are a few Americans who cannot speak Spanish and thus English is used as a secondary language. I led the “service” in both Spanish and English and then obviously spoke some Hebrew even though I don’t know what anything means. After the service, Rafael (Guatemalan Jew married to a Costa Rican and they are my favorite couple here) and I had some L’chaims to properly celebrate the occasion and it was my first taste of whiskey in months. Oh how I missed you, whisky. We then ate a tremendous amount of food and I took home an entire round challah, lots of rice, and salads as leftovers. It was definitely a great time!

For Yom Kippur, nothing was really organized so I made a few calls in the days leading up to it to see what was going on and finally on the morning of the fast, I was told that there would be a small get-together at the house of the Israeli family in Managua. Obviously, I wanted to be with other Jews on Yom Kippur and not just by myself so I packed an overnight bag and headed to Managua eating my last meal of two slices of pizza on the bus ride there. I stayed at Rafael and Elizabeth’s house for the night and along with them and a few other people we did what we could in celebrating Yom Kippur. We actually listened to Kol Nidre on Youtube and then listened to a live webcast of Yom Kippur services during the evening and the following day. How funny is that! This world truly is advancing….I had noooo idea that they did webcasts of Jewish high holiday services. We then broke the fast with an incredible meal of breads, cookies, cheeses, alcohol, and meats. It was a very peaceful, relaxing Yom Kippur and actually a lot better than spending all day in a synagogue in Jacksonville. Although I will admit that I did miss the familiarity and comfort of the Jacksonville Jewish Center and hope that my presence was not missed too much over there.

So there you have it….more or less…that is a picture of the Nicaraguan Jewish community. There are some great people, some weird ones, and I am just thankful that the community does, in fact, exist. And guess what? There is going to be a Jewish wedding on December 14 and I am invited!