Meyer Rosenbaum, Chief Rabbi of Cuba.
Meyer Rosenbaum was the spiritual leader of the Kehilla Adath Israel and the self-proclaimed Chief Rabbi of Cuba from 1948 to the Winter 1956-1957, when he left for Venezuela, then Guatemala and New York.
Rosenbaum was born on 12 August 1910 in Charnovitch, a son of Rebbe Isamar Rosenbaum. Rosenbaum left in 1933 for Palestine, where he learned in Hevron Yeshiva (Jerusalem). He received his rabbinic ordination in 1936, Isamar’s only son who did not become a Hasidic rabbi. In 1937 he moved to New York.
In those days a secure economic and political conditions in Cuba were reflected in the prosperity of the small Jewish community that had been residing in Cuba since the early twenties.The Jewish population of Cuba was approximately 10,000 out of a total Cuban population of 5,000,000. The majority, some 7,500, resided in Havana.
In 1948 Rosenbaum arrived in Cuban on a charity collection mission for the Israeli Irgun. He soon became the Rabbi of Adath Israel-K’neseth Israel, then later rabbi of the Patronato. Rosenbaum was also accomplished in the secular world. He attended the University of Vienna and New York University. In Cuba he taught at the Universidad de la Habana. Rabbi Meyer Rosenbaum, who was the Chief Rabbi of Cuba and a prolific author of scholarly works, including Torah LeOhr Hatekufah.
http://youtu.be/QBtw7ou4zn8
When Rosenbaum was still associated with Kehilla Ahdut Israel (the combined Adath Israel and K’neseth Israel), he founded the orthodox Tajkemoni School which address was Calle 21 No. 561 in Vedado, La Habana on 20 October 1949. Tajkemoni was an Orthodox yeshiva-type school with an enrollment of about eighty Ashkenazi pupils. It constituted a threat to the Centro Israelita and its Colegio, and it was probably responsible for some of the decline in enrollment at the Colegio.
The principal was Yosef Abrami, who was present at the founding meeting of the Patronato. Abrami previously had taught in the Centro Israelita. He also authored many scholarly works in Hebrew, Yiddish, and Spanish.
Meyer Rosenbaum II was forced to flee Cuba in 1958 when the Batista regime was overthrown by Fidel Castro’s socialist government. He is now buried at the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem in Israel.
Agencies/Various/InternetPHotos/YouTube/TheCubanHistory.com
The Cuban History, Hollywood.
Arnoldo Varona, Editor.