Letters from Cuba

This summary includes the following letters: “Govorovo, December 2, 1937,” “On Board the Ship to Cuba, January 22, 1938,” “On Board the Ship to Cuba, January 26, 1938,” “Port of Mérida, February 1, 1938,” “Port of Havana, February 4, 1938,” “Triscornia, February 4, 1938,” “On the Train From Havana to Matanzas, February 4, 1938,” “On the Train From Matanzas to Agramonte, February 4, 1938,” “Agramonte, February 6, 1938,” “Agramonte, February 7, 1938,” “Agramonte, February 15, 1938,” “Agramonte, February 18, 1938,” “Agramonte, February 22, 1938,” and “Agramonte, February 25, 1938.”

Esther lives in Govorovo, Poland, with her irritable Mama, her three brothers— Moshe, Chaim, and Eliezer—her scholarly younger sister, Malka, and their grandmother, or “Bubbe.” They face increasing discrimination because they are Jewish: Papa was forced out of his job as a store owner because of their religion. Three years ago, Esther encouraged Papa to immigrate to Cuba—something Mama is still angry with her about—to support the family. Esther, the oldest child, will soon be 12 and considered an adult in Jewish culture. Papa has sent enough money for one of the children to join him. Esther writes to Papa begging him to let her go to Cuba to help earn money to bring the whole family across.

Papa agrees, and Esther leaves for Cuba. She tells her story in the form of letters to Malka, written in an old notebook. Esther will save the letters and share them when Malka comes to Cuba. Mama gives Esther her silver thimble as an item of remembrance. Esther takes the train from Warsaw to Rotterdam. She meets Jacob, a Jewish man whom authorities roughly prohibit from continuing to the steamship. Esther gives Jacob a handkerchief, and he blesses her journey. Esther shares food with an elderly Jewish couple who are fleeing persecution in Poland to join their children in Mexico.

Aboard ship, Esther shares space in steerage with other Jewish women. Conditions are cramped and unhygienic. Esther unhappily observes the injustice of the difference between the treatment of the poor passengers and those in first class. Esther discovers a secret corridor housing livestock and befriends a Dutch sailor, Casper, who gives her a gift of her first banana and lets her help care for the animals.

The ship stops first in Mexico, where the old couple disembark. Esther reassures the older woman that their children will not find them to be a burden. The old man, appreciating Esther’s wisdom and kindness, gives Esther his gold pocket watch. The ship continues to Cuba. When it arrives, the sailors give thanks to the Virgen de Regla for their safe passage.

Esther joins other Jewish immigrants in a camp in Triscornia, who are waiting for relatives, recovering from illness, or short of the money needed to enter Cuba. Esther is overjoyed when Papa arrives.

Esther’s woolen dress and stockings are hot, and she hopes she will soon get a cooler dress. Everyone in Cuba wears sandals and loose, light clothes. She thinks the people, with the darkest skin she has ever seen, have “beautiful faces” (22). Papa explains that he has had to adapt his religious practices to the Cuban lifestyle, but he is still devout in his prayers. Esther tastes pineapple for the first time and speaks her first Spanish word, “gracias,” to an ebullient fruit vendor. Esther immediately loves Cuba and its friendly, outgoing people.

Zvi Mandelbaum owns a shop in Havana, and Papa peddles Zvi’s wares in the countryside. Zvi gives Esther sandals, and though Esther is at first reluctant to take off her stockings and expose her legs and feet, she is grateful. Esther and Papa travel to rural Agramonte, where Papa rents a small house. Papa has missed the family terribly and feels like a failure for being unable to bring everyone to Cuba. Esther encourages him and promises to help.

Esther likes the vibrancy of the Cuban landscape. Esther proudly feels like she can take care of Papa and herself. Papa sadly confesses that he is selling “idols”—statues of saints and the Virgen (i.e., the Virgin Mary)—but Esther knows God forgives him.

Esther helps Papa peddle his statues. Papa is shy and unassertive and not a great salesman. An older woman, Ma Felipa, invites them into her home. She wants a statue of the Virgen Mary with dark skin like her own. Ma Felipa calls the image “Yemayá” and shows Esther and Papa a natural fountain in a separate room. Papa sells her the statue for half price. Ma Felipa is overjoyed. Esther meets Manuela, a girl her age who is Ma Felipa’s granddaughter, and Manuela’s father, Mario José.

Esther decides to meet the neighbors on their street. She visits the Chinese grocery store and meets the owner, Juan Chang, and a boy, Francisco Chang. Juan Chang purchases five statues of San Lázaro, whom they call Li Xuan, and whom Esther realizes is Saint Lazarus. Esther learns that Ma Felipa’s Yemayá is also the Virgen de Regla whom the sailors revere.

Thanks to Esther, Papa’s sales increase. Esther meets Señora Graciela and Doctor Pablo, who leases his house to Papa at a cheap rate. They invite Papa and Esther to dinner in their fancy home. Esther notices a portrait of a young girl, the couple’s daughter, Emilia, who died from leukemia. Papa worries that the meal will not be kosher, but Doctor Pablo became a vegetarian as penance for being unable to save his daughter’s life. Señora Graciela gives Esther Emilia’s Spanish grammar book to help her learn the language.

Returning to Ma Felipa’s neighborhood to sell their last statues, a man on horseback accosts Papa and Esther. He angrily calls them judíos, jumps from his horse, grabs at their satchels, and shoves Papa. Ma Felipa intervenes and comforts Papa and Esther with a song about Yemayá. Esther worries that if the hatred of Jews has come to Cuba, it must be worse for her family in Poland.

Esther and Papa see the angry man again outside Doctor Pablo’s home. Señora Graciela introduces him as her brother, Señor Eduardo, who co-owns the family sugar mill. The man is rude to Esther and Papa. Doctor Pablo apologizes, explaining that Señor Eduardo is a Falangista who believes everyone in Cuba should be Catholic, while Doctor Pablo represents the other side of the Spanish Civil War conflict, believing that everyone has a right to worship as they please. Esther learns that enslaved people were brought from Africa to work in the sugar fields. She wonders if Ma Felipa was once an enslaved person.