In
1959 there were 15,000 Jews in Cuba. Only 1500 remained
by the time I first visited the Jewish community in 1995,
and I wondered then if this small community would survive.
It
was a few years after the Soviets left taking six billion
dollars out of the Cuban economy. Fidel Castro had said after
they left that Religion and Communism could co-exist. He
named that time “The Special Period”, which translates loosely
to “Cubans Will Have To Do Without”.
By 1995
many Cubans were returning to religion, and Jews were beginning
to live Jewish lives again.
The three
synagogues in Havana were in disrepair, and then as now there
were no Rabbis to lead or teach. In a program that continues
to this day, the Joint Distribution Committee provided religious
teachers from Argentina (usually a young couple) for periods
of approximately 2 years, to assist the community with Jewish
ritual and tradition. These teachers based at the main synagogue
in Havana, Beth Shalom, made periodic trips to the synagogues
in Camaguay and Santiago de Cuba.
People in
the outlying cities of Cienfuegos, Santa Clara, and other smaller
communities gathered in private homes to conduct services and
Jewish study on their own, and tried to reach out to Jews who
over the years had become distant from the Community. The Soviet
years and intermarriage had taken a toll on the Jewish population
itself.
The
Mission of our B’nai B’rith Cuban Jewish Relief
Project was clear. We
wanted to help the Cuban Jewish population survive and grow
strong. In the first couple of years our goal was to understand
the difficulties facing the community. How could the needs
of the community be met when little to no money was available,
and the average salary of Cubans was $25.00 per month? Obviously
there was no hope of raising money from within the Jewish
community.
Since
then the synagogues in Havana have been restored and
many of the Jewish families have returned to “La Communidad”,
the community. Many non-Jews who married Jews have converted
and become involved in the synagogue activities.
The Patronato
(Jewish Community Center) has a small pharmacy but with very
few medicines. We met with Dr. Jose Miller, President, Adela
Dworin, Vice-President, and Dr. Rosa Behar, Head of the Pharmacy
and leaders of synagogues and communities outside of Havana,
brainstorming ways of revitalizing Cuban Jewish life.
Remarkable
changes have occurred since then.
The
needed influx of dollars to bring the community back
to life was accomplished through missions of the new
B’nai B’rith Cuban
Jewish Relief Project and the help of other friends of
the community.
By 1999
Beth Shalom, the main synagogue in Havana, had been repaired.
The Sephardic Synagogue was returned to the Jewish Community
after the departure of the Soviets, and its interior has been
updated. Repairs to the Orthodox synagogue Adat Israel were
completed in 2004. With the help of Jewish organizations worldwide
we brought medicines, Judaica and prayer books. We made it
a special project to see that every Jew in Cuba receive a Mogen
David or a Mezzuzah. We provided money for luncheons held on
Shabbat that brought the community together and assured everyone
of at least one good meal for the week.
Many
Jewish families have returned to “La Communidad”,
the Community, and a number of non-Jews who married Jews
have converted and become involved in synagogue activities.
One
of our Project’s biggest accomplishments was the reorganization
of the B’nai B’rith Cuba’s Maimonides
Lodge. The
Lodge had become almost completely inactive. With our help
and under the new Lodge President Isaac Rousso a membership
drive was started. The Maimonides Lodge has grown from a
few die-hard members and no activity to our current eighty
active members. They are the largest international Jewish
organization in Cuba.
We
started the Tzedakah Project in 2001 with twenty elderly
and handicapped beneficiaries. Retired persons receive
pensions of ten dollars per month, along with a small
food allowance. The Tzedakah Project provides each retiree
with an additional ten dollars per month. We now have
seventy people receiving assistance through this program,
and hope to add more. This program has been very effective
and is administered by B’nai B’rith
Cuba, further activating the Maimonides Lodge.
We
have also established a fund to respond to emergencies in
the Community. The Emergency Fund has provided needed
repairs to damaged homes, and made accessible necessary items
that may be otherwise difficult or impossible to obtain.
The B'nai B'rith Cuba administers this.
We
are happy to report that as of this date there are 86
children enrolled in religious school in Havana. B’nai B’rith is
helping to make sure that all of their needs are met by providing
textbooks, notebooks and pens, along with some new computer
software for teaching Hebrew. On our last mission we brought
116 pairs of children’s shoes.
In
2000 we shipped a container of new medical textbooks valued
at $500,000 to the Medical School of the University of Havana. Due
to the embargo the shipment could not be made directly to
Cuba, so our donated textbooks traveled from Pittsburgh,
to Baltimore, to Antwerp, Belgium and at last to Havana.
This serpentine route turned out to be the most cost-effective
available at the time.
The November
and December 2004 missions brought in over 1500 pounds of needed
supplies to aid the Cuban Jewish Community. Since 1995 we have
carried in over 8million dollars worth of medicines, Judaica
and other supplies.
We
also assist with specific needs in the community as they
arise. For example, Alexandra Goldstein, now eleven years
old, suffers from a progressive eye disorder. By the
age of five, Alexandra’s
glasses were impossibly heavy for her. We were able to
have special plastic lenses made for her, and have continued
to do so as her prescription has changed over the years.
B’nai
B’rith Cuba Maimonides Lodge has
become the most important Jewish organization in Cuba. Our
funding of their activities has encouraged the Lodge to
be active in all facets of community life. A monthly B’nai
B’rith community newspaper, Fragmentos, is now being
published in Spanish out of the new B’nai B’rith
office located on the 5th floor of the Sephardic Synagogue
in Havana. The English language version of the paper will
soon be available to friends of the community through the
B’nai B’rith Cuban Jewish Relief Project.
Our missions
are truly special not only for the direct aid they provide
to the community, but also for the personal connections which
are made between the Cuban people and the visitors from the
U.S. Our missions allow for a great deal of interaction.
In
December 2004 we had a third anniversary party for the
Tzedakah Project, and 150 members of the community, many
of them young people, joined mission participants to
celebrate with live music, dancing, refreshments and
a huge birthday cake. Mission participants and community
members
“bus-hopped” to meet and talk on a visit to the Botanical
Gardens outside of Havana, where we held a B’nai B’rith
meeting.
I believe
that what we have accomplished in Cuba can be taken to other
countries with small Jewish populations to help them with their
survival. The one thing that is most important is to provide
Jewish education to not only the children, but the adults also.
We have worked to make the community as self-sufficient as
possible with the limitations that have been placed upon them.
With the
help of generous donors and concerned friends, we intend to
continue to help our Cuban Jewish friends as long as our help
is needed.
B’nai
B’rith relief missions are committed to the idea that
all Jews are responsible for one another, and that “to
save one person is to save the world”.
We usually
take 4 missions per year with about 25 persons per mission.
Please call or email us for further information.
Stanley
Cohen
International Chairman
B’nai B’rith Cuban Jewish Relief Project
1831 Murray Avenue, Suite 204
Pittsburgh, PA 15217
(412) 521-2390
Email: bbrelief@earthlink.net
www.jewishcuba.org/bnaibrith
