With locked shuls and frayed nerves, is there a future for the Jews of Caracas?
This past Motzaei Shabbos, the Cohen family went to sleep after the seudah in their home in Caracas, Venezuela, without imagining that they would wake in the middle of the night to a bombing carried out by more than 150 aircraft from the United States Air Force.
“We started hearing the explosions around two in the morning, and not knowing what to do, we went upstairs to our neighbors’ apartment,” Iosef Cohen told Mishpacha (his name has been changed at his request, for security reasons). “Things calmed down around four in the morning, and only then did we go back down to our place,” he said — unaware that at that very moment, Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro, was aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima, en route to US territory, after being captured along with his wife, Cilia Flores, in an operation few could have imagined.
On Shabbos morning, there was not a single active minyan in Caracas. All synagogues were closed, and virtually no civilians went out into the streets until Sunday morning, when a few people — including Cohen himself — ventured out to buy basic supplies.
“No one in the community is going out, except to buy whatever they can find,” he said. “It’s more uncertainty than fear — about what might happen next, about how this will continue. People are worried about shortages of food, fuel, basic necessities.”
For years, Venezuela has been slapped with the US’s highest Do Not Travel advisory level, due to severe risks of wrongful detention, torture in detention, terrorism, kidnapping, arbitrary enforcement of local laws, crime, civil unrest, poor health infrastructure, and where US travelers are advised to hire private security and prepare a will.
As for the Jewish community, which dates back as far as the 17th century, the country’s Jewish population swelled dramatically in the wake of World War II, those numbers rising even more as newcomers from the Middle East and Africa began putting down roots in Venezuela. Thirty years ago, there were well over 20,000 Jews in Venezuela, but that number dropped significantly when an economic crisis, safety concerns, and political instability rocked the region, prompting thousands of Jews to pack up and leave Venezuela for good.
Caracas, though, still has a vibrant Jewish community and an active Chabad, although its building is surrounded by thick walls and there are substantial security measures in place.
The Hebraica Jewish Community Center is the hub of Jewish life in Caracas. In addition to housing the offices of several Jewish communal organizations, multiple eateries, a grocery store, a bakery, a swimming pool, and a tennis court, the Hebraica JCC is also home to three out of four of Caracas’s Jewish schools, which cater to the different segments of the local Jewish community. The city even has a kollel kehillah.
As active as the community installations are, the reality is that most of the young people will likely leave once they reach adulthood, ending up in places like Panama, Mexico, Miami, or Israel. Yet even as its Jewish population continues to shrink, Caracas has remained a vibrant community with a strong infrastructure. A decade ago, when lawlessness reigned supreme in Caracas, Jewish residents were often targeted because it was known that if a Jew is kidnapped, the community will come together with a ransom. Things have been relatively quiet over the last few years, but with the current upheaval, no one is taking bets on how the community will endure.
