We made it to Cuba at last—and just like that, four unforgettable days flew by, and we’re back.
For our group of 30, this mission was a mix of excitement and determination. For some participants it was the first time they signed up specifically for this Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ Mission to Cuba. For others, it was a journey long overdue—they had hoped to be part of the 2020 mission, which was canceled due to COVID, or the 2023 mission, postponed following the tragic events of October 7.
As we prepared for the trip, we couldn’t help but joke, “Third time’s a charm!” Or in Hebrew, “Pa’am shlishit glida!” (“Third time, ice cream!”). Well, in Cuba, they say “La tercera es la vencida,” meaning “Third time is the winner.”
And we were indeed. For the 30 of us lucky enough to finally get to Cuba, to spend four days exploring, learning, meeting, helping, and sharing, this was an extraordinary and enriching experience.
But not a simple one.
We arrived at a time of increased blackouts, the funeral of the revered and beloved, Adela Dworin, who had led the Jewish community for decades, a downward spiraling economy, and a mass exodus of young adults leaving the country. I came home with a sense that everything I had seen and experienced was shaped by contradiction.
We saw gorgeous ornate buildings, but in astonishingly shabby conditions. Beautiful hotels rise adjacent to squalid, crumbling residences. Havana is known for its 1950s American cars that couldn’t be updated once U.S. imports ended with the 1959 revolution. Polished, gleaming, candy-colored 1950s taxis ferry tourists around town, while their non-commercial counterparts are dingy, rusted, decrepit, and yet somehow still running.
Highly respected Cuban doctors work at hospitals that attract medical residents from all over Latin America for their training, but the hospitals lack the most basic supplies and medicines, so that doctors have their hands tied, and health care is utterly inadequate.
There were no lines at the hotel breakfast buffet (because the hotels are largely empty), but there are long lines at the bakeries where locals go for their daily quotas of bread.
All education is free, and yet for lack of teachers, school children have only partial days, and recent university graduates teach university courses.
Cuba is a beautiful Caribbean Island with fertile land and endless shoreline, and yet it does not grow enough produce for their people, and neither does it have a single fish market—all fish is for export.
Then there’s the Jewish community.
While the first Jews came to Cuba with Christopher Columbus, this is a community that descends primarily from European Jews, who fled from pogroms and then Nazis in the first half of the 20th century. Those who could, often moved on to the U.S., and with the 1959 revolution, the Jewish community shrank from 15,000 to just 1,200 people. Cuba officially banned religion from 1959 until the fall of the USSR, but in 1992, permission was once again granted for people to practice their religions—and for the Jewish community to reclaim synagogue buildings confiscated in 1959.
The Cuban Jewish community began to rebuild, with the help of the world Jewish community and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC or “The Joint”), our Federation’s primary partner in international Jewish rescue and cultural rejuvenation. In 1992, 1,200 Cuban Jews began to participate in Jewish life, meeting for Shabbat and holidays, meals, religious education, and cultural enrichment. Now, post-COVID, with emigration motivated by the shattered economy and lack of opportunity, that community is down to about 700 people.
Once again, contradictions are everywhere.
There are three separate functioning synagogues, yet they collaborate on community meals, celebrations, and holidays. The synagogues share a single beloved rabbi who has come to Cuba over 250 times since 1992, and yet his visits are less than monthly.
While the Cuban government has declared its solidarity with the people in Gaza, that has not made the Jewish community fearful from expressing their strong support for Israel. Unlike major streets in the U.S., the “Bring Them Home” posters are not defaced, there is no sign of any vandalism, and there is no need for a guard at the synagogue door.
Young people are leaving in droves, and yet the Shabbat services were led by a group of young people with voices and liturgical skills that would make anyone proud.
The Jewish community is shrinking dangerously, and yet 150 people come for Shabbat services and chicken dinner on Friday and another 150 come for Sunday school.
On one hand, parents want only for their children to make good lives for themselves, and on the other hand, parents are pained by watching their children leave for the U.S., Spain, Mexico, and Israel, often unable to join them because they’re caring for their own aging parents.
The synagogue operates a pharmacy, giving away donated medications (brought by people like us), and this is simultaneously a drop in the proverbial bucket and a huge benefit to the community and their non-Jewish neighbors.
Everyone in the Jewish community relies on food aid from JDC, and they struggle with water, electricity, and transportation, and yet they gather regularly (with the help of JDC chartered buses) for Jewish education, BBYO youth programs, Israeli folk dancing, and holidays, and they send representatives to the Maccabi games and to BBYO International Conventions.
Power goes out on a regular basis (no refrigeration, A/C, hot water, or light), and yet this is a community willing to sit in the dark for Kabbalat Shabbat without any thought of leaving the synagogue. This community has no material resources, and yet it is rich in enthusiasm, heart, talent, leadership, grit, and love of Jewish life!
We did actually sit in the dark for Friday night services.
The remarkably talented young prayer leaders used flashlights to read, so we were able to see them, more or less. And we had our own cellphone flashlights. But the community spirit lit up the room! The Cuban melodies differed a bit from ours, of course. But when we sang “Oseh Shalom” (“Make peace”) together, the melody was the familiar one we all knew. We sang loudly together as one world Jewish community, praying for peace, and bound together by history, tradition, and mutual affection.
It is difficult to try to understand the issues facing a society and a Jewish community in just four days. Traveling on a Federation mission allowed us to see the complexities of Cuban society for what they are, and nudged us, perhaps, to see our own lives’ small inconveniences for what they are, too. We brought dozens of challahs and duffel bags filled with essentials that are unavailable in Cuba: medications, toilet paper, soap, toothpaste, powdered milk, and the like. But we also brought friendship, love, and support.
On our “Third Time’s a Charm” Federation Mission to Cuba, we had the opportunity to see a piece of the Jewish world that truly needs our support. We got to feel that special connection of visiting Jewish “cousins” we just hadn’t met before. I was proud to travel with a group of like-minded, generous, dedicated fellow Jews. And I am in awe of our amazingly connected and caring worldwide Jewish community.
Federation, in partnership with The Joint, will continue to support Cuba’s Jewish community with a Shabbat dinner for 175–200 people, chickens for 150 families (one per family), and funding a marble gravestone for the much beloved Adela Dworin.
Projects like these are made possible through support for the UJA Annual Campaign, which ensures we can continue uplifting Jewish communities worldwide.
Want to travel with us? Learn more about upcoming Federation Missions here.