Jews in Cuba:
A Rich Cultural History

JDC provides both practical and spiritual support to Cuba’s Jewish community. We support in-person connections between isolated and elderly Jews living at a distance from each other, and we sponsor Kesher, which provides support to adults with disabilities and operates a pharmacy at the Patronato synagogue.

Years into the pandemic, we continue to provide hybrid support to the country’s most vulnerable Jews. From the very start, we created virtual opportunities for Sunday school, elderly programs, and weekly Shabbat dinners. Considering food shortages and rationing systems, this weekly meal was critical for the well-being of at-risk and elderly citizens. Today, this support is ongoing, with JDC providing food packages to more than 120 vulnerable families.

By supporting a variety of programs that promote Jewish life, JDC helps the Cuban Jewish community forge its own future — one that is authentic, relevant, and exciting. This includes periodic in-person visits from a rabbi from Chile who, throughout the year, maintains constant virtual contact with the community, the Rikudim dance program –– an Israeli folk dance class — a Sunday school, communal celebrations for all Jewish holidays, and weekly Shabbat gatherings, where we help serve meals to hundreds of Jews. Both the Sunday school and Shabbat celebrations are hybrid, taking place in person once a month.

JDC provides both practical and spiritual support to Cuba’s Jewish community. We support in-person connections between isolated and elderly Jews living at a distance from each other, and we sponsor Kesher, which provides support to adults with disabilities and operates a pharmacy at the Patronato synagogue.

Years into the pandemic, we continue to provide hybrid support to the country’s most vulnerable Jews. From the very start, we created virtual opportunities for Sunday school, elderly programs, and weekly Shabbat dinners. Considering food shortages and rationing systems, this weekly meal was critical for the well-being of at-risk and elderly citizens. Today, this support is ongoing, with JDC providing food packages to more than 120 vulnerable families.