Bridges to Jewish Cuba

• In Event: Rereading Jewish Cuba: Encounters, Bridges, Memory

Abstract

For the past twenty-five years, the Jewish community in Cuba has been a destination for American Jews on religious missions seeking to help their brethren. These missions have been supported by the U.S. government, which has wanted to promote freedom of religious expression in Cuba. Thousands of American Jews have gone to Cuba legally in groups, bringing medicine, food, clothing, prayer books, and other donated goods. Each group rediscovers the miracle of Jewish life in Cuba and returns laden with exhilarating stories and photographs that are shared in the media and beyond, creating hype and more calls for solidarity. The Jews of Cuba are now part of American Jewish consciousness, just as American Jews are now a fixture of Jewish Cuban life on the island. In this paper, I hope to explore the meaning of these bridges between American Jews and Jews in Cuba and to reflect on the changes that lie ahead following the recent restoration of ties between the governments of Cuba and the United States.

Author

• Ruth Behar, University of Michigan/Ann Arbor