Israel and Cuba haven’t had diplomatic relations since 1973, but that hasn’t stopped thousands of Israelis from touring the Caribbean island anyway. “We assume that at least 10,000 Israelis have already visited Cuba,” said Daniel Faians, president and CEO of Polaris Group, a large travel wholesaler and airline agent based in Tel Aviv. Overall traffic… More ▸
Cuban President Fidel Castro was an honored guest at a Havana synagogue recently, where he mingled with 200 congregants during Chanukah celebrations last month. The visit was Castro’s first to a synagogue, according to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, whose local official in Havana led the Chanukah program. Castro spent about two hours in… More ▸
Cuba has become one of the most popular destinations for American Jewish delegations. Now one national Jewish organization wants to do more than bring humanitarian and religious supplies to the island nation’s tiny Jewish community. The American Jewish Congress is moving toward calling on the United States government to end its decades-old economic sanctions against… More ▸
A quiet revolution is brewing in Havana. As the Cuban economy crumbles, crippled by the disintegration of the Soviet empire and a 30-year U.S. embargo, the island’s tiny Jewish community is undergoing a startling renaissance. Last year, there were about 750 known Jews in Cuba. This year, there are more than 1,200. Some are new… More ▸
For the 892 Jews of Cuba, the disappearance of their country’s protector and patron, the Soviet Union, means pretty much what it means for the other 10 million inhabitants of the island: shortages. “It is very, very hard for all the Cubans,” Moises Asis, Cuba’s lone teacher of Judaism, said in a recent interview here…. More ▸
Cuban Jews have received their Pesach food shipments and are ready to celebrate the Jewish holiday, said Dr. Jose Miller, head of the Cuban Jewish community, who appeared Tuesday morning on “CBS Morning News” broadcast from Havana. CBS News host Harry Smith interviewed Miller as part of the network’s coverage of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s… More ▸
Two weeks ago, a small Beechcraft private plane owned by a New Jersey Jewish businessman landed twice in 48 hours on Cuban soil. The first time, it unloaded a small interfaith delegation of American clergy who had come to assess the needs of religious communities in Cuba. The second time the plane touched down, it… More ▸
The 900-member Jewish community in Cuba went without matzot and other Passover foods this year because the thousands of pounds of edibles donated by the Canadian Jewish Congress did not arrive in time to be distributed for the first seder, the CJC learned. One report from Havana said the shipment by sea never arrived and… More ▸
The Jewish community of Cuba condemned the terrorist killings of 21 Jews in Istanbul on September 6. A telegram from Havana to Jacobo Kovadloff, director of South American Affairs and Spanish Media of the American Jewish Committee, signed by Dr. Jose Miller, president of the Comunidad Hebrea de Cuba, and Adela Dworin, secretary, stated: “We… More ▸
Moises Asis is the only teacher of Hebrew and Judaism in Cuba today. Late last year he organized a course of Jewish studies, and 10 children currently meet with him every Sunday. To encourage his voluntary educational work with Havana’s Jewish youth, the Conference on Alternatives in Jewish Education (CAJE) invited Asis to its recent… More ▸
First Person
The time Israeli security strip-searched me at their embassy in Jordan