List of Caribbean Jews

Here is a list of some prominent Caribbean Jews, arranged by country of origin.

Antigua and Barbuda

• Jamaica Kincaid, writer

Aruba

• Henny Eman, Prime Minister
• Mike Eman, Prime Minister
• Cantor Irving N. Spenadel led the Jewish community of Aruba on July 2002.

Bermuda

• Puisne Judge Hector Barci, elected as highest office in Bermuda.

Cuba

• Ruth Behar, writer
• José Antonio Bowen, jazz musician and president of Goucher College
• Fabio Grobart, Communist Party co-founder
• Olga Guillot, singer
• José Miller, leader of the Cuban Jewish community
• John Nunes Jamaican Jewish distiller at Santiago founder of what is now Bacardi
• Meyer Rosenbaum, Rabbi and spiritual leader
• William Levy, actor

Curaçao

• Mordechai Ricardo
• George Maduro
• Abram Mendes de Chumaceiro
• Daniel De Leon, socialist leader
• Rafael Martinez Cohen
• Moises Martinez
• Nick Ligthart, owner of the first banana plantation on the island; notorious for importing Ukrainian immigrant workers. Ashkenazi origin.

Dominican Republic

• Oscar Haza, journalist
• Dominican President Francisco Henríquez y Carvajal
• His son Pedro Henríquez Ureña
• Yehonatan Elazar-DeMota, rabbinic scholar and musician

French Guiana

• Paulo Jacomo Pinto - also from Brazilian descents, allowed Jews to enter French Guiana by the way of the Dutch West India company.

Guyana

• Janet Jagan, née Rosenberg, president (1997–99)
• Nikolo Kottarelli, luxury hotel tycoon

Haiti

• Amos Radian, Israel’s Dominican Republic-based ambassador to eastern Caribbean
• David Ades, political writer for Le Nouvelliste
• Daniel Kedar, businessman; co-founder of Prodev
• Elisabeth Silvera, President of the Fondation Haiti Solidarite (FHS)
• Eric André, actor, comedian, and television host
• Gaston Michel, local tourism official
• Gilbert Bigio, businessman billionaire of Syrian descent and Israeli honorary consul in Haiti
• Kenneth Ades, financial service provider
• Luis de Torres, one of the first Jews to settle on Haiti, and also Christopher Columbus's interpreter
• Reuven Bigio, founder of FAE (Fondation Appui à l'Education)
• Fritz Mevs, business tycoon; founder of WIN Group
• Monique Péan, fine jewelry designer
• Robin Padberg, CEO of telecommunications company Voila in Haiti
• Rudolph Dana, CEO of Transec SA
• Sol, is a musician of Russian descent

Jamaica

• Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records (Jewish mother)
• Isaac Mendes Belisario, artist
• Lewis Gordon, philosopher
• Joshua Haim & Jacob Raphael DeCordova, founders of the Jamaica Gleaner
• Sean Paul, singer (Sephardic Jewish grandfather)
• Frank Silvera, actor, founder of Theatre of Being (Jewish father)
• Louis Simpson, poet

Martinique

• David Gradis, one of the first Jews to start a trading business in Martinique.
• Moises Cohen, another one of the first Jews to start a trading business in Martinique. (Sephardic Origin).
• Harold Pinto, the Pinto family were ironsmiths and made a good living.

Montserrat

• Joao Moises Benabides Dinis, (a/k/a Juan Dionis) spent his youth in Caribbean and one of the first Sephardic Jews into Charlottesville, VA. Founding member of Kahal Kadosh Beth Shalome, in Richmond, VA.

Puerto Rico

• Alegría Hudes, Quiara – author, playwright. Wrote the book for Broadway's musical In the Heights. Her play, Elliot, a Soldier's Fugue, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2007.^[1]
• Sandy Alomar, Sr. father was Jewish but an agnostic who allowed his children to be brought up as a Catholic
• Anderson, Axel – actor/director, Anderson made his debut in Puerto Rican television with a sitcom named Qué Pareja a local version of I Love Lucy.
• Blaine, David – magician, Blaine is also an endurance artist and Guinness Book of Records world record-holder.
• Brugman, Mathias – was a leader in Puerto Rico's independence revolution against Spain known as El Grito de Lares (Lares' Cry).
• Kaplan, Julio – Puerto Rican chess player and former world junior champion.
• Katz Montiel, Marco – composer for Zoey's Zoo and trombonist with Charlie Palmieri and Mon Rivera.
• Leavitt, Raphy – composer, director and founder of "La Selecta"
• Lehman, Manny – DJ and producer.
• Levy, Hila – U.S. Air Force, in 2007 she became the first Puerto Rican Rhodes Scholar.
• Meyers, Ari – actress, Best known for her role as Emma Jane McArdle in the Kate & Allie (1984) TV series.
• Ostow, Micol – author of "Emily Goldberg Learns to Salsa" and "Mind Your Manners, Dick and Jane".
• Phoenix, Joaquin – actor, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Gladiator in 2000 and in 2005, he was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar, and won a Golden Globe in the same category in 2006 for his role as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line.
• Rivera, Geraldo – journalist
• Sally Jessy Raphael - syndicated talk show host
• Seijo, Jorge – Puerto Rican radio and television personality
• Starr, Brenda K. – salsa singer, her seventh album, Atrevete a Olvidarme, titled, "Tu Eres" earned her a nomination by the Billboard Latin Music Awards in 2006.
• Snyder, Aaron Cecil – Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico
• Tassler, Nina – President of CBS Entertainment.^[2]
• Ticotin, Rachel – actress, starred in Critical Condition, Where the Day Takes You Falling Down Total Recall and in Con Air, where she earned an ALMA Award for her role as prison guard Sally Bishop.
• Ticotin, Sahaj – vocalist/guitarist from the Rock band Ra.^[3]

Suriname

• Edgar Davids, footballer (Jewish mother)
• Jacques Judah Lyons, rabbi
• Pim de la Parra, film maker
• Emile de la Fuenta, Founder of the swimmingpool 'Parima' in Paramaribo, the capital of Suriname (FB:Celebration 375 yrs. Judaism in Suriname)

Trinidad and Tobago

• Nathaniel Nathan, Chief Justice
• Gregg L. Friedman MD, Physician
• Nicholas S. Jagdeo, Author

US Virgin Islands

• Gabriel Milan Governor of the Danish West Indies (U.S. Virgin Islands)
• Judah Benjamin, US & Confederate politician
• Ralph Moses Paiewonsky Businessman, Politician and Governor
• Camille Pissarro, artist
• David Levy Yulee, US politician

See also

• List of Jews
• List of Jamaicans

References