The Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) will send $30,000 worth of religious articles and supplies to the Jewish community of Cuba, the World Jewish Congress has announced here. Ever since the U.S. severed relations with Cuba in 1960, the CJC has looked after the needs of Cuban Jews. Even prior to the rupture of relations between the U.S. and Cuba, the Jewish community there had difficulty meeting its own needs for several decades.
“Some 1,000 Jews on the island will benefit from the shipment of religious supplies being sent, ” said Alan Rose, executive vice president of the CJC. Among the items to be sent are kosher meat, tea, matzoh and prayer books. Rose said the religious supplies will leave by ship from Montreal and will reach Havana before Passover next April.
In recent years, Spanish-speaking rabbis and educators have visited the community which has five synagogues and a Jewish public library. The Jewish community, most of whose members reside in Havana, is organized under the Comision Coordinadora de las Sociedades Religiosas Hebreas de Cuba, which maintains its full membership with the World Jewish Congress.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
