| Havaner lebn | |
| Type: | Weekly (1932–1937), Twice-weekly (1937–1960) |
| Editor: | Oscar Pinis (1932–1935), Sender Kaplan (1935–1960) |
| Language: | Yiddish language Spanish language |
| Headquarters: | Havana |
| Publishing Country: | Cuba |
| Oclc: | 8392744 |
Havaner lebn (Yiddish: האװאנער לעבּן, 'Havana Life'), known in Spanish as Vida Habanera, was a Yiddish and Spanish language newspaper published from Havana, Cuba 1932–1960. The first issue came out on November 11, 1932. It was the first commercial Jewish newspaper in the country with a longer duration.[1] It was the main publication of the Ashkenazi Jewish community in the country at the time.
Havaner lebn was founded by Elieser Aronowsky, Oscar Pinis and Carlos Shwarzapel.[2] During its first years it came out weekly.[2] Pinis was the editor of Havaner lebn 1932–1935.[3] Sender Meyer Kaplan became the editor of Havaner lebn in 1935.[4] [5] He was assisted by Abraham J. Dubelman, who acted as co-editor of the newspaper.[1] [6] The authors of the newspaper were generally male.[7]
The newspaper carried advertisements for Jewish businesses.[7] Havaner lebn published a yearly almanac, which became a key source on the history of the Jewish community in Cuba for this period.[8]
In 1936 attacks on Havaner lebn were issued in the press organs of José Ignacio Rivero, which accused the newspaper of being leftist and anti-Cuban. As a result, Kaplan was arrested and detained for four weeks.[5]
From 1937 onwards it was published twice-weekly.[9] It became a bilingual (Yiddish/Spanish) publication in the 1950s.[2]
The last issue was published on December 31, 1960. Many of the companies advertising in the newspaper had been nationalized, and would no longer pay the bills for ordered adverts.[10] Both Kaplan and Dubelman migrated to Miami, United States shortly afterwards.[11] [10]