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Aviva Slesin, who was a "hidden child" in Lithuania during
the holocaust, has compared the Elian Gonzalez case with
Jewish children hidden from the Nazis during World War
II. She writes that former hidden children describe the
psychological ramifications of their traumatic separation
from their parents, the bonding process that occurred
with their rescuers, and the difficulties that occurred
once they were reunited with their parents. Although she
admits that the historical and political context is radically
different, Slesin argues that the psychological stages
and events that the hidden children went through are parallel
to those that Elian has and will experience.
Slesin writes that having suffered
the forced separation from her parents during World War
II, she and other hidden children that she knows felt
that in Elian's case it would be highly beneficial to
him to be reunited with his father as soon as possible.
She wrote that during the holocaust some Jewish parents
were able to give their children to sympathetic gentiles
as their only possible way of saving those children from
virtually certain death. Despite the urgency of the situation,
the children felt abandoned. Once they were living with
their new family most of the children quickly transferred
their loyalty to their adopted family. In the cases where
the children's birth parents survived and returned for
them after the war, it was by no means always a happy
reunion. According to Slesin many of the children didn't
want to go back with their parents, and felt that they
were being abandoned yet again. She therefore believes,
based on her own experiences, that it would have been
far better if Elian had been returned to his father almost
immediately. The extended period of time that he spent
with the "Miami relatives" meant that like Jewish hidden
children he will now have to reestablish loyalty to his
father and he might possibly feel guilt at "abandoning"
his foster family.
The Elian Gonzalez affair is on
one level a family custody case. On another level it is
a manifestation of a propaganda war between Cuban communists
and capitalists, the latter in exile. But on yet another
level it is a story filled with religious
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themes. Elian has been depicted as a messianic figure;
many Miami Catholics have told and retold the story that
dolphins saved him at sea. The concept of dolphins as
saviors has a Christian basis, but those Christian sources
may have borrowed it from a Midrash on how dolphins saved
some Israelite children who lagged behind during the parting
of the Red Sea. Interestingly, it is not just the Catholics
who interpreted the Elian saga in religious terms. One
of Elian's main lawyers is Spencer Eig, an Orthodox Baal
Teshuva who frequently put the fight to keep Elian in
Florida in the context of the child's right for religious
freedom. Eig compared the Gonzalez case to that of "a
Jew from communist Russia making it to Israel and then
having to be sent back."(3) Eig appeared frequently
on TV with his large black yarmulke, an identifying symbol
that none could miss. At the same time, we all understand
that Eig's position on Elian is not the only stance that
American Jews are likely to take.
Now that Elian is home in Cuba,
the American Jewish community may disagree profoundly
on what our government policy should be toward Cuba. As
relations between the countries continue to thaw, many
of us may have the opportunity to visit Cuba and to draw
our own conclusions. While few are likely to come away
from the experience demonizing Fidel Castro, neither are
we likely to see the revolution as a success. Cuba's unique
history has created a society unlike that of any other
country in the world. Beset by economic crisis, the Cubans
are hungry, frustrated, and waiting for change. Nevertheless
many retain a certain fondness for what the revolution
has done for them, and have ambivalent feelings about
what the future may bring. As Jews and as Americans we
have an obligation to help these wonderful people to build
a future of hope and of peace.
1. Richard J. Shapiro,
"From the Rabbi", Congregation B'nai B'rith Bulletin,
volume 72, number 9, (May 2000), p. 4.
2. "Apology is Asked
over Elian Imagery", Jewish Bulletin of Northern California,
(May 12, 2000), p. 20A.
3. "Elian's Lawyer:
Why an Observant Jew is Fighting to Keep Him Here," Chicago
Jewish News, (January 28, 2000), p.3.
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