Published in the Washington Jewish Week January , 2004

Bethesda Jewish Congregation’s first Cuba mission was successful beyond our wildest dreams. We went on our trip to meet the people of our adopted sister community, Sancti Spiritus. People we knew only from pictures and letters. We came away with real friendships, with names, with faces, with stories, not only of our new friends, the Barlias, the Benders, and the Levys of Sancti Spiritus, but also with families from Cienfuegos and Santa Clara as well as Havana.

One of the tasks that Jews have been charged to perform throughout our history, is to rescue and redeem our brothers and sisters. Most of the pre-revolutionary Jewish population of Cuba long ago departed their beautiful island home leaving behind a tiny remnant of approximately 1700 people. The last Rabbi left in the 1970’s. Today, most Jews live in Havana and Santiago, the largest cities. Here they enjoy newly restored synagogues and schools made possible by the recent support of the Cuban government and donations from Jews in the U.S. There are however smaller Jewish communities, some as small as twenty people, in central Cuban towns like Santa Clara, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spiritus, and Caibarien. These people struggle to maintain their identities as Jews. With few Jewish resources other than our contributions of ritual supplies and rare visits from Jewish teachers, it is contact with Jews from outside Cuba such as ourselves that provides them with hope and the comfort of knowing that they are not alone and that the Jews of America truly care about what happens to them.

Our work with the people of these towns has truly made a difference in their lives and in ours. While in Sancti Spiritus we enjoyed a Friday night Shabbat service and Hanukkah party at the home of Jose and Daisy Barlia led by their children Ivonne and Jose. They are both hoping to become B’nai Mitzvah in March. Since no one in the town reads Hebrew, they learned to read and sing the entire service phonetically. The house was strewn about with Hanukkah decorations obtained from previous visitors that the community had saved for this event. The following day, after Shabbat services and lunch at our hotel, the children and young adults put on a presentation of Israeli dances. They have no dance teacher so they learned the dances from videotape. They also made costumes for the dancers. In preparing for our visit they experienced a growth in their own knowledge and expertise in Judaica.

While in Ciefuegos, we visited the home of Rebecca Langus, president of the community. During our visit we learned that they had the words to the Hanukkah song Maoz Tsur, but did not know the tune. We taught the song to them and spent the afternoon singing that song and other Hanukkah songs.

In Santa Clara, community president David Tacher raised the funds to build a Holocaust memorial in the Jewish cemetery. BJC's spiritual leader, Hazzan Sunny Schnitzer, was the first Jewish clergy person to visit the cemetery since the memorial was completed so he led a Jewish unveiling ceremony and dedicated the monument. Now that the monument is there, more Jewish groups touring Cuba will hopefully go out of their way to visit Santa Clara and in so doing increase the amount of contact the Jews of the town have with other Jews from around the world. David confided to us that his greatest dream is to build a small synagogue for the Jews of Santa Clara and the surrounding towns. The four communities mentioned above (all within two hours of each other) have already begun to get together for holiday celebrations. The Jews of the four towns were to meet the day of our departure at the Barlia’s home for a Hanukkah party. Our donations insured that it would be a happy Hanukkah for everyone.

The people we met are true heroes. They overcame many obstacles to share with us the wonders and delights of our heritage. We gave them gifts of toys, prayer books, medicine, and supplies, but they gave us the gift of their hearts.

Everyone on that trip has been affected by what we experienced in Cuba. I dare say none of us are the same. We left with hugs and kisses, smiles and tears and a vow that this would not be our last visit, only our first. We will go again to Cuba next winter. We must. Our Cuban brothers and sisters cannot be allowed to become “last year’s social action project.” We owe them our continued support. And the greatest expression of that support is our continued presence.

What is most remarkable is how these warm and beautiful people struggle so hard to obtain what we take for granted, the ability to be together as Jews, to celebrate and pray together. In America we have beautiful synagogues, well supplied Jewish schools, abundant educational offerings for children and adults, Rabbis, Hazzans, and other well trained Jewish professionals. The people of Cuba have only their burning desire to be Jews and to grow as Jews. Their dream is to have what we have religiously. We can make the dream come true.