Mission to communist island - Maine group to forge ties with Cuba’s Jews

Mission to communist island: Maine group to forge ties with Cuba's Jews
Members will see how the faith is faring and cultural highlights in a
visit made more exciting by renewed diplomatic relations.
BY KELLEY BOUCHARD STAFF WRITER
kbouchard@pressherald.com | @KelleyBouchard | 207-791-6328

A group of Jewish Mainers is scheduled to visit Cuba this week, eager to
get a rare look inside the long-isolated island country and make
personal connections with its small but resilient Jewish population.

The Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine has organized the
weeklong Jewish Mission to Cuba, which includes visits to Jewish sites
and other cultural highlights of Havana and beyond. The 17 travelers are
expected to arrive in Cuba around noon Monday, carrying with them
medical and library supplies donated by various organizations and
individuals in Maine.

The trip was planned before President Obama and Cuban President Raul
Castro announced in December that they would restore full diplomatic
relations. It has taken on new meaning and excitement as the two
countries renew economic, social and political ties abandoned decades
ago, including plans to open a U.S. Embassy in Havana this year.

"There's definitely a sense that everything's changing and it's time to
go before McDonald's moves in," said Fae Silverman, JCA program
coordinator. "We had some late calls from people wanting to join our
group, but it wasn't possible because hotels are full. So, it's a hot
ticket right now."

It's the first trip organized by the JCA through the Jewish Cuba
Connection, a California-based group founded in 2000 to support and
empower Jewish communities in Cuba through fellowship and action.

Although there are fewer than 1,500 Jews living in Cuba today, as many
as 24,000 lived there in the 1920s, according to various sources.
Through the centuries, Jews arrived in Cuba in waves, escaping
persecution in Spain during the Inquisition, in Turkey after the breakup
of the Ottoman Empire and in Europe before and during the Nazi reign.
Blocked by U.S. immigration quotas, some Jews chose Cuba for its
proximity to America, then decided to stay put.

Most Jews fled Cuba after the Communist revolution and the rise of Fidel
Castro in 1959. Though their population has dwindled, Jews remain
curiously revered in Cuba, in part because some members of their
community were active in the founding of the Communist Party and the
revolution. Unlike other Cubans, Jews have access to meat each week so
they can celebrate the Sabbath properly, and many Jewish graves have
been robbed of their bones because they're considered sacred for
Santerian religious rituals.

The Jewish Mission to Cuba is poised to foster ties between the
relatively small number of Jews in Maine – 13,890 of the state's 1.3
million residents – and the even smaller number of Jews among Cuba's
11.2 million people. There are about 6 million Jews in the United States.

Emily Chaleff, former executive director of the JCA, felt a powerful
connection when she made a similar trip to Cuba in 2013.

"It was an incredible learning experience to witness a Jewish community
maintaining its faith despite being a significant minority in a much
larger community," Chaleff said. "It really binds an individual's
identity when they're able to connect with similar people elsewhere."

When Chaleff was there, the level of poverty among most Cubans was
readily apparent, with crumbling buildings everywhere and people eager
to receive donations of hotel soap.

"It'll be fascinating to see what the experience is like for this
group," Chaleff said. "Information is so controlled by the state, I
wonder how much people know about the shift in diplomatic relations and
how much things have really changed. I imagine day-to-day life has
changed very little for most people there."

The group's itinerary includes various cultural and historic sites in
new and old Havana, including famous plazas, churches and Adath Israel,
the only Orthodox Jewish synagogue remaining in Cuba. The Mainers will
also venture outside the city to Santa Clara, where they will have lunch
with Jewish community members and visit a Jewish cemetery that contains
a Holocaust memorial.

They'll also visit the cities of Cienfuegos and Trinidad, a UNESCO World
Heritage City that has a sister-city relationship with Brunswick. The
group includes Sherrie Bergman and Donald Quaid of Brunswick, who are
looking forward to promoting the sister-city connection and learning
more about Cuba in general.

"American Jews are always interested in how Jewish communities have
evolved and survived in other places," said Bergman, a retired
librarian. "I'm especially pleased that there is a humanitarian aspect
to this trip."

The group plans to deliver children's books, notebooks, pencils, pencil
sharpeners and other books to the public library in Trinidad. Members
also plan to deliver medical and health care supplies donated by Beacon
Eye Care in Biddeford, Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick, Brunswick Dental
Health Associates, and Phyllis and Dan Dunitz of Saco.

Dr. Robert Sax will be traveling with his daughter, Alexandra Sax, a JCA
staff member. He recently returned from a Jewish heritage cruise on the
Danube River, which included visits to the Terezin concentration camp in
the Czech Republic and to the courtroom in Nuremberg, Germany, where
Nazis were tried for war crimes.

A retired surgeon, Sax is eager to learn about Cuba's political,
economic and social evolution.

"I've always been concerned with how people survive and thrive in the
most difficult situations," Sax said. "I'm fascinated by the resilience
of the Jewish community and Cuban culture in general in a country
stifled by communism."

Source: Mission to communist island: Maine group to forge ties with
Cuba's Jews - The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram -
http://www.pressherald.com/2015/03/09/mission-to-communist-island-maine-group-to-forge-ties-with-cubas-jews/