Was Castro Jewish? ...How?

Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews 

http://www.jewfaq.org/ashkseph.htm

How influential have Jewish leaders been in our history? This brief synopsis may offer two people that, surprisingly, you may not have known about; one from the past and one in the present. They certainly offer a stark contrast to diametrically opposed political beliefs.

In 1755, Alexander Hamilton was born to Rachael Fawcette Levine, named Alexander Levine, of Jewish Ashkenazi lineage, in St. Croix, the West Indies. After changing his name from Levi to Hamilton and his geographical situs to the United States, on December 14, 1780 he married Elizabeth Schuyler and into the Rothschild family—the banking scions then and now. The United States upon entering the Revolutionary War against England was indebted to the Rothschild Bank for loans to finance expenses and soldiers. The seeds of finance were planted by The Bank Of Rothchild to finally bloom in 1913 with the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank run by private bankers as the central banking institution of the United States Treasury. Now that is really influential power inside our government--it's an ongoing debate to end it too.  

Fidel & Raul CastroFidel Castro is Jewish as his grandfather was a Sephardic Jew in Turkey. As much what news is heard from that closed island nation, the words 'Communist' and 'Atheist' are the descriptions normally bantered around within the official government political manifestos. The Holy Catholic Church was banned and shunned by the state.

As the aging dictator, 88 yrs. old, relinquished his power to his brother Raul Castro due to debilitating health issues in recent years the tiny island is abuzz as the reign of Castro winds down with his ultimate demise; time has finally taken him down. Surprisingly, the reality of a post-Castro Cuba that attempts to remain communist will find itself in a cul-de-sac where old policies and political system are at a dead end. Cuba must try new ways but the citizens need help; hopefully the Cuba ex-pats in America can assist with help. Otherwise, the Army takes the reigns as the next regime.  

Subgroups of Jews with different culture and traditions:

• Ashkenazic: Descendants of Jews from France, Germany and Eastern Europe.

• Sephardic: Descendants of Jews from Spain, Portugal, North Africa & the Middle East.

• Mizrachi: Descendants of Jews from North Africa and the Middle East.

• Other subgroups are: Yemenite, Ethiopian and Oriental.

Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews represent two distinct subcultures of Judaism. All Jews share the same basic beliefs, but there are some variations in culture and practice. It's not clear when the split began, but it has existed for more than a thousand years, because around the year 1000 C.E., Rabbi Gershom ben Judah issued an edict against polygamy that was accepted by Ashkenazim but not by Sephardim.

Historically, Sephardic Jews have been more integrated into the local non-Jewish culture than Ashkenazic Jews. In the Christian lands where Ashkenazic Judaism flourished, the tension between Christians and Jews was great and Jews tended to be isolated from their non-Jewish neighbors. In Muslem lands where Sephardic Judaism developed, there was less segregation and oppression and their thought and culture was strongly influenced by Arabic and Greek philosophy and science. Why are these subculture differences important? They illustrate a classic case of whether there can ever be a 'cumbaya moment' to get together peacefully with Muslims since the centuries old history of mistrust from Jews about Muslims who have fought Jews over the centuries. It is not a whimsical decision of Israel, today it is a choice to defend and protect Judaism and their way of life against Islam and Sharia Law.

In Israel, a little more than half of all Jews are Mizrachim, descended from Jews who have been in the land since ancient times or who were forced out of Arab countries after Israel was founded. Most of the rest are Ashkenazic, descended from Jews who came to the Holy Land (then controlled by the Ottoman Turks) instead of the United States in the late 1800s, or from Holocaust survivors, or from other immigrants who came at various times. 

In America, many of the early Jewish settlers of North America who were Sephardic immigrated from Spain and Portugal. Their first Jewish congregation in North America, Shearith Israel, founded in what is now New York in 1684. Subsequently, most Jews today are Ashkenazim, descended from Jews who emigrated from Germany and Eastern Europe from the mid 1800s to the early 1900s. 

Sephardic Jews are often subdivided into Sephardim, from Spain and Portugal, and Mizrachim, from the Northern Africa and the Middle East. The word "Mizrachi" comes from the Hebrew word for Eastern. There is much overlap between the Sephardim and Mizrachim.