RETURNING TO JUDAISM; VALLEY FAMILY HELPS CUBANS LEARN HERITAGE.

Byline: Holly J. Andres Daily News Staff Writer

Some people ask Andres Novoa Castiel why he decided to come back to Judaism.

After all, he is a resident of Cuba, among the most steadfast of communist nations.

``I say to them, maybe we were like a seed there in Santiago and this teacher put some water on us and we began to grow and grow and grow,'' said Castiel during a visit to the San Fernando Valley sponsored by longtime Valley residents Alan and Romi Skobin of Chatsworth.

With the political climate in Cuba easing in the last few years, Castiel and other Jews in Cuba have started to revive their religious practice.

Recently, they held their first bar mitzvahs in Castiel's hometown of Santiago in more than 30 years.

With help from American Jews, many of them from California, a synagogue was reopened in Santiago, prayer books and other religious material have been supplied, and many necessities such as medicine have been shipped to the town.

Castiel and fellow Cuban Jorge Rivero Behar came to the United States - and to the San Fernando Valley - to get a little more spiritual nourishment that they can take back to Cuba, as well as formal training in religious practice since their synagogue does not have a rabbi.

The Skobins sponsored the pair's visit to the Valley and the Los Angeles area in general because Romi Skobin was originally from Santiago. Also, the Skobins just discovered a family tie to Castiel.

The Skobins hosted a Cuban cuisine dinner party in honor of the visitors. Members of the area's Jewish and Cuban-American community also were invited to the dinner to share ideas, their Jewish experience in the Valley, and to form a relationship with the visitors.

``Their primary reason for coming to the United States is for education. They wanted to establish relationships, learn more about the practice of Judaism so they can go back and teach others,'' said Alan Skobin.

In the Los Angeles area, that meant going to the Sephardic Education Center on Wilshire Boulevard. In Santiago, most Jews are of Sephardic origin and have ancestral roots in what is now Turkey.

Also, they visited the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Museum of Tolerance, where they were able to gather materials and knowledge to take back to their community. On a personal and emotional note, Castiel was able to say Kaddish at the grave site of his grandmother and an uncle who are buried in the Home of Peace Cemetery located in East Los Angeles.

The Valley experience was just a segment of their personal expedition to discover more about Judaism.

Since traveling from Cuba, Castiel and Behar have been staying in Berkeley while attending a course in Hebrew and Jewish studies. They also will be delegates to the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Solidarity conference Aug. 17-21 at Stanford University.

But in a way, their spiritual journey began in 1993.

That year, Jose Miller, the president of the Jewish community in Cuba, and other Jews from Havana visited their hometown of Santiago to teach the community about reviving Shabbat services and holiday observances.

Through his inspiration, Castiel and Behar have become leaders and two of the primary Jewish educators in Santiago.

Now, the state of Jewish life in Cuba is in a revival mode. There are approximately 1,500 Jews in Cuba today, up from 700 or 800 a few years ago.

There are four synagogues in use in the country, three in Havana and one in Santiago. Although Cuba has no rabbis or professional cantors, Jewish lay people conduct services themselves for their congregations.

A source of recent pride is the rededication of the synagogue in Santiago, Hatikvah, on July 25, 1995. Last December, Castiel's son and a nephew were bar mitzvahed.

For information on how to help Cuban Jewish communities, call the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Cuba desk, at [phone] or Jewish Solidarity at [phone].

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1) JORGE RIVERO BEHAR

(2) ANDRES NOVOA CASTIEL

(3) This is one of four synagogues now operating in Cuba, where the Jewish community has grown in the past few years, to about 1,500.