It is with deep
sadness that we acknowledge the death of
José Isedoro
Barlîa Loyarte
October 7,1952 -
October 4, 2010
We have lost a rock of the Jewish community of
Cuba. We have lost a noble friend.
Words are inadequate at this moment to express
our sadness. Tears and grief are our companions and will be in the days
ahead. One day a healing will come, but today, we sit with the Barlia
family in the dust with a broken heart.
In 2002, I first wrote to Jose and soon thereafter I traveled to Cuba
for the first time to meet him, and his beautiful family.
Within hours it was clear that we would be
friends forever. I came to admire the tenacity, the intensity, and the
depth of his concern for his community. I also knew immediately of the
depth of his love for his family. Jose was the guardian. He protected
everyone her cared for. He cared very much about the Jews of Cuba.
Without Jose Barlia, there would probably not be a Jewish community in
Sancti Spiritus.
Before the renaissance of the Jewish Communities
of Cuba, he taught his children about their Jewish identity in a way
that touched them so deeply that it became central to their beliefs. He
so inspired his daughter Anna that in the late 1990’s she went door to
door, through the town, to every Jewish household that Jose could
identify, inviting them to the Barlia home to begin the process of
creating a vibrant and committed Jewish community. To this day, the Jews
of Sancti Spiritus still gather in the home of the Barlia family to pray
and celebrate, and now to mourn. Jose, his wife Daisy, and his children
Anni Frid, Anna, Jose Jr., and Ivonne, led seders and Kabbalat Shabbat,
and taught the people, young and old, what it means to be a Jew.
A friend once referred to the Barlia family as
the “Cohanim” of Santcti Spiritus. Jose Barlia was the “Cohen Gadol.”
Zichrona Livracha – May his memory always be
for a blessing
Our prayers are with his family.
Hamakom yenachem etchem b'toch sha'ar aveilei tsiyon b'rushalayim.
Rabbi Elhanan 'Sunny' Schnitzer
Excecutive Director - The Cuba America Jewish Mission
