Here's former Religion Editor Darrell Holland and his wife, Ann, at the Cleveland Metro Parks Zoo, where they are service volunteers.
The globetrotters had recently returned from a trip to Cuba, as a part of a trip by Ann's synagogue. Darrell observed that the seven year old rum "went down as smooth as scotch." In 2008, the pair also visited Chile, Patagonia, Wales, and El Salvador. They've gone to El Salvador as part of a medical mission for several years.
Darrell wrote a piece about the Cuba trip for the temple that sponsored the trip. It's a good read.
By Darrell Holland
Rabbi Eric J. Bram reminded 19 people gathered in front of a Miami hotel that they were going to Cuba to “fix a little bit of brokenness.”
The group from Suburban Temple-Kol Ami in Beachwood flew to Cuba on December 21 for a four-day mission to visit three Jewish congregations in Havana.
“All Jews are responsible for one another” Bram told the group.
The visit coincided with Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, which they celebrated with two of the congregations in Havana.
Though visits by Americans to Cuba are restricted by both United States and Cuban governments, the group traveled under a license granted by the American government for the purpose of assisting the Jews of Cuba.
During their visit, the members of the group donated “gifts” that had been collected over several weeks before the trip.
The gifts included prescriptions medicines that could cost several thousands of U. S. dollars. The medicines were given to Cuban Jews who oversee a pharmacy at the Grand Synagogue of Havana, called the Patronato. The drugs are dispensed to those who have a prescription from a physician.
The group’s members took nearly 1,000 pounds of gifts. They included items for dental care, eye glass frames, powered milk, school supplies, and many other items needed daily but in short supply in Cuba. Also donated was $3,000 to the three synagogues.
The need for such donations, several Cubans told the group, is created by the current U. S. embargo forbidding trade with Cuba and the inability of the Cubans government-controlled socialist economy to produce adequate goods.
The shortages, several Cubans said, include food, which is strictly rationed and which often grows scarce as families consume their monthly rations before the end of the month. On the other hand, several Cubans said, medical care and education are free and Cuban-trained doctors are abundant.
Housing, all owned by the government, is nearly free, though often substandard. Always mindful of Rabbi Bram’s admonition about the responsibility of Jews to “fix the broken” and to promote social justice, the group found much that needed fixing. Much of the once-beautiful colonial architecture, especially in Old Havana, is in need of repair, unemployment is high, jobs pay little though Cubans pay little for most things they purchase.
Tourism is a growing industry. There are many hotels for mostly European and Canadian visitors providing abundant food and comfort in contrast to the shortages suffered by most Cubans.
For example, it cost $180.00 (U. S. dollars) for a couple to attend a Las Vegas-style show in Havana, the same amount a Cuban earns annually working in a cigar factory.
Despite the shortages and the expressed dreams of many Cubans to emigrate to the United States, there were constant reminders that on January 1, 2009 there will be a grand celebration of the 50th anniversary of the victory on January 1, 1959 of the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro and supported by many Jews.
Many of the approximately 1,200 Jews remaining in Cuba, most living in Havana, will also join in the celebration while many also yearn to leave Cuba for Israel or the United States.
Maritza Corrales, a Jewish historian, told the group there is little anti-Semitism in Cuba though about 1,000 Jews have made aliyah in recent years. That exodus has taken place during the 15 years of increasing freedom of religion under Fidel Castro.
Ms. Corrales led the group in a tour of one of the two Jewish cemeteries in Havana. One of the stops was at what she said is the first memorial to Holocaust victims in the western hemisphere.
Leading Kaddish prayers for the dead at the memorial, Rabbi Bram said, “We are the survivors finding ways to keep the memory of the victims alive,” while also praying for peace.
Bram probably was the only Rabbi in Cuba that day because there are no resident rabbis in the country. Except for twice-yearly visits by a Rabbi from Chile, or other Latin American countries, the synagogues are led by lay people.
During the Revolution an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Jews were living in Cuba. Soon after 1959, about 90% of them departed for the Untied States
By U. S. regulations, former Cubans living in the United States can return to Cuban only once every three years.
As the Suburban Temple contingent was leaving Cuba on Dec. 25, some members of the group wept at an airport scene where sad and largely poor Cubans said farewell to their relatives who were returning to the United States.
