When I was a child I dreamt that I’d marry into an immigrant family very similar to my own. My children would grow up speaking Spanglish and we’d continue the traditions I grew up with. But other than my extended family I really didn’t know many other Jewish Cubans living in Brooklyn. Little did I imagine I would later go to Israel, meet and then marry a totally different type of Jewish immigrant, one from Africa, who speaks Afrikaans and a bit of Zulu, but no Spanish at all. I continue to cook for my family some of the traditional Cuban dishes of my childhood. Our children’s Spanish, however, comes straight out of the textbooks from three years of forced high school Regents preparatory classes. Their attempts at hablando espanol can make me laugh; compared to them I sound like a real Cuban native!

We don’t often fly south for the end of January “yeshiva break”, but we’re off to Puerto Rico this week because we were invited to stay with my Spanish speaking cousins in San Juan. They are amazingly gracious, picking us up from the airport and touring us around their beautiful island. We decided it would be best not to overstay our welcome, and split the week between a hotel and their home. I got a great deal for a couple of weeknights at my favorite place on the island to which I have sentimental attachment from visits so many years ago. I was so excited about getting away, but then I heard that half of our shul will be in Puerto Rico, and some at the very same hotel! I had totally forgotten that PR is a popular destination for Yeshiva break revelers. So much for anonymity and getting away from it all! I’m still happy we can all enjoy some “fun in the sun” (just like at the beach club) and perhaps even share a mojito together.