Cuba Mission

“What’s the Jewish community like? Are there even still Jews there?” Since returning from a Beth El mission that brought humanitarian relief to the Jewish community of Cuba, I have been repeatedly asked these questions.

Once 15,000 members strong, the Cuban Jewish community has shrunk to a mere 1,500. Between the revolution in 1959 and the fall of the Soviet empire in the 1990s, synagogues were closed. Judaism like other religions on the island was practiced underground if at all. An entire generation of Jews was thus lost to Castro’s regime.

More recently, many of the most committed and knowledgeable Jews moved to Israel through the clandestine “Operation Cigar.” Today, with great determination, those who remain have not given up on their heritage. Their story is inspiring so I would like to share it with you.

Part of what made our mission so meaningful was traveling with Dalia Katz and her family. This was Dalia’s first return to the country of her birth in over 50 years. Her story is featured in the June 30th Star Tribune.