Rabbi and ‘father of the Cuban Jewish community’

To his congregation, he was known as “Sunshine,” for his positive energy and spirit. To the community at large, Rabbi Mayer Abramowitz was “the father of the Cuban Jewish community.”

Abramowitz, who died Thursday at his home in Miami Beach at 97, opened the doors to the synagogue he led, Temple Menorah in Miami Beach, to hundreds of Cuban Jewish youth who came to the United States as part of Operation Pedro Pan from 1960 to 1962. Over the years, he ministered to countless members of the community who were drawn to the warm, welcoming rabbi.

“Rabbi Abramowitz was so well known in our Cuban exile community because he tried hard to build bridges between different groups,” said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-South Florida. “He was especially helpful in the tough early years when so many Cuban refugees were coming over and we were so unfamiliar with how to find a job, get help for the elderly, or feed young children. The faith community, as always, really helped so many Cuban refugees. And Rabbi Abramowitz set the tone for others like him to emulate his kindness.”

Regina Behar, married to a Cuban-born husband, saw Abramowitz perform a naming ceremony for their two granddaughters, Alexandra and Alison.

“There were four big rabbis in Miami at the time with the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, and he was the one that was so comical, so fun-loving,” Behar said.

Born in the old city of Jerusalem on Dec. 13, 1919, Abramowitz arrived in New York in 1928. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Yeshiva University in 1941 and rabbinical ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1944. He enlisted in the Army as a chaplain and first lieutenant, stationed in Europe. At SchlachtenseeTempelhof, a displaced persons camp in Berlin, he met his future wife, Rachel, a Holocaust survivor.

Abramowitz continued his efforts to help thousands of Holocaust survivors rebuild their lives. He trained survivors to become teachers, established a school and was active in helping Holocaust survivors escape to Palestine.

Abramowitz later became the chief emigration officer for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. In 1951, Abramowitz and his wife moved to Miami Beach, where he became rabbi at Temple Menorah, serving for 45 years. A few years after moving, the couple visited Cuba.

“I don’t know who took me to Cuba, because I never took a vacation, but it was probably God,” Abramowitz told the Miami Herald in 2009 at age 90.

Abramowitz is survived by his wife Rachel, his children Dahlia Oppenheimer, David Abramowitz, and Reena Greenberg, 11 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren.