Local Award-Winning Photojournalist’s Four Year Project Features 30 Large Scale Images Providing an Intimate and Candid View of the Contemporary Jewish-Cuban Community


Florida Atlantic University Libraries hosts “Cuban-Jews in South Florida: An Intimate View,” a photo exhibition by Randi Sidman-Moore, an internationally recognized photojournalist. Funded by a grant from the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin counties, with additional support provided by FAU Libraries, the exhibition will be presented from Sunday, February 27 through Friday, May 27, 2005, at the first floor west wing gallery of FAU’s Wimberly Library, Boca Raton campus, 777 Glades Road.

The exhibition of 30 large-scale, black and white and color photographs is the result of four years’ work. The images are a first-hand look into the lives of Cuban-American Jews residing in South Florida--candid photos of subjects performing daily tasks and rituals, providing an intimate view of a community that began over four decades ago. South Florida’s Cuban-Jewish community started when Castro came to power in 1959, most of the then-15,000-strong community managed to flee, with the majority settling in the United States. About 1,200 Jews live in Cuba today.

“I was privileged to be the quiet observer of their daily lives, sharing in their private moments,” said Sidman-Moore. “My goal in this exhibit is to paint a vivid personal picture of this unique cultural landscape, in an attempt to refute Miami’s image of ‘glitz and glamour’ that is perpetuated throughout popular culture.”

"Randi Sidman Moore's photographs take us inside the family life of a community and show us how a distinct group of people look, how they live, and how their lives are different from or similar to ours," said Dr. William Miller, director of FAU Libraries.

The “Jewban” community, as it is commonly called, instantly captured Sidman-Moore’s imagination. Cuban-Jewish families granted the artist access to their every-day lives, often allowing her to photograph them for hours at a time. Included in the exhibition are cross-cultural images of private ceremonies, Shabbat dinners, people in a wide variety of careers and in ways of celebration and worship.

"It is our belief that 'community' is more than geographic locale," said Shannon Sadler Hull, president of the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties. “It is an idea that exists in the minds of people sharing common hopes and concerns. This exhibit met our human and race relations guidelines for divergent groups coming together to address common issues, and we were delighted to support it with a grant."

The photos expose a wide range of backgrounds within the community. Carmen Rodriquez, a Key West cabaret singer, has a Cuban father who was raised Catholic and her mother is a Jewish New Yorker. “I got my nose from my mom and my rear end from my dad,” she jokes. “I love my lox with black beans and yellow rice. I am a true Jewban.” Another subject, Ori Meneses, a black Cuban, faced discrimination and years of soul searching before converting to Judaism. “When we moved to Miami in the early 1960s we had to ride in the back of the bus,” he said. Meneses explored martial arts, Zen Buddhism, and meditation, but it was Judaism that helped him find his “true calling.”

Others discovered their Jewish roots later in life. Mariano Moshe Otero, a former Evangelical minister, photographed in bed with his wife and children on a Sunday morning, became an Orthodox Jew after receiving an old birth certificate that listed his grandmother as Jewish. He founded Los Caminos de Israel, an organization that assists Cuban families in tracking their religious roots. “Suddenly, when Cubans investigated the past of their families, they discovered that many traditions and rituals had a Jewish, not Christian origin,” said Otero. “There is a spiritual awakening in South Florida and other parts of the country, where the return to one’s roots has become easier and without fear of anti-Semitism.”

Sidman-Moore is a native of Great Neck, New York and has resided in Miami for nine years. She studied photography at Skidmore College in New York and Studio Art Centers International in Florence, Italy. In 2001, she received the Nikon International award from a field of 35,000 submissions for her photo essay and exhibition “Family.” Sidman-Moore was a regular contributor to Elle Magazine’s lifestyle section, and her cover and ad photos have appeared in numerous publications including, Time magazine, Cosmopolitan and the Miami Herald.

The exhibition is free and open to the public. A free parking pass and directions to the Wimberly Library are available at the information booth at the FAU main entrance. For additional information, e-mail tberns@fau.edu, call 561-297-2116 or visit www.fau.edu/library .


MEDIA CONTACT: Terri Berns

561-297-1164, tberns@fau.edu