Federation mission visits a changed Cuba

Federation mission visits a changed Cuba
by Robert Wiener
NJJN Staff Writer
June 3, 2013

Andrew Frank's recent trip to Cuba was for him more than "fascinating"
and "exotic." The four days the executive director of Jewish Federation
of Princeton Mercer Bucks spent in Havana last month showed him "a great
example of where federation dollars created a clear and lasting change
for the better. "

Frank and 33 other people from New York and New Jersey traveled to the
island nation April 18-21 on a mission sponsored by the federation.
Participants met with members of Cuba's Jewish community and viewed
projects supported by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
with allocations from Jewish federations across North America.

That support, said Frank in a May 24 phone interview, "transformed the
Jewish community in Cuba from where it was in 1991," when the collapse
of Soviet subsidies led to widespread poverty and the JDC was allowed to
reenter the community.

"We made a difference — not only Princeton Mercer Bucks but 156
federations throughout the country, as well as individual synagogues and
communities from the United States and Canada. We all contributed to the
Cuban Jewish community, providing it with resources to the point where
that community is a fully engaged Jewish community," he added.

To aid the locals, group members brought along such needed items as
clothes and medical supplies that had been donated.

Among the mission stops was the Patronato, Havana's Masorti, or
Conservative, congregation, where the visitors attended a Shabbat service.

"I don't know how many people sitting in the congregation were 100
percent Jewish or 10 percent Jewish or 5 percent Jewish, but it was
well-attended, and they were involved in the Jewish community in a way
that was meaningful to them," said Karen Anderson, a Lawrenceville
resident who is vice president of the federation's UJA Campaign.

"The question of who is Jewish is not important to them," said Frank.
"There are many people who identify with the Jewish community who are
probably intermarried, but that is not important. They interact on a
regular basis with non-Jews."

"We really got to know people in our community, to see where federation
dollars go, and to see young Cuban Jews leading a service," said Gary
Smotrich of Hopewell, a member of the PMB federation's executive
committee who cochaired the mission with Anderson.

The group learned that there is a stable population of about 1,000 Jews
in Havana and another 500 outside the city.

"There are no rabbis, but people take it upon themselves to run the
services," Smotrich told NJJN. "The young people are leaving by getting
Israeli passports.

"It is nonetheless a very vibrant community," and, he added, "nobody
talked about anti-Semitism."

Anderson was impressed by "how sharp the people we interacted with were.
Most of them have never been out of Cuba, but they seem to know what is
going on in the rest of the world. They are not living in a bubble."

Frank found the Cubans to be "a warm and friendly people."

Smotrich called the experience "tremendous. Just seeing the country —
getting off the plane and seeing the billboards of Che Guevara and the
'56 Chevys in the parking lot. It's a time warp."

http://www.njjewishnews.com/article/17596/federation-mission-visits-a-changed-cuba#.Ua27q5yKzTo