I spent Purim in Cuba this year.  It was a remarkable experience during which my memory kept wandering back to 1995 when people knew there was a holiday but did not know what it was about or how to celebrate in a meaningful way.  The adults came in ordinary clothing and sat watching the children (some in costume) enjoy the singing, story telling and especially the candy.  The children sat on the floor of the social hall waiting to see what would happen other than the Queen Esther contest they knew was coming.  There was no reading of the Megillah.

This year, 2007, I had a totally different experience.  There was a sense of excitement from the beginning to the end.  Both adults and children were in costume and I could feel an eagerness to participate that wasn't there in the past. The Sunday school children put age appropriate skits with the teens doing a very funny version of the Purim story.  The Youth Group (ages 14 -30) had spent a day making hamentashen (called Hamen's ears) and there was quite a variety of other foods and, of course, candy. The singing was joyous and people old and young participated. All this that I describe came after the megillah had been read in the sanctuary.

Passover was equally inspiring but I only know about it from photos and letters. In Comunidad Hatikvah de Santiago de Cuba there is always a first seder, as there is in several communities. But in Santiago, the Farin family has a second seder for their family and close friends. Private seders are not common in Cuba. However, this year I heard about a home seder in Havana. Perhaps there were others that I haven't heard of yet. The point is that Jewish education, combined with the experience gained from interaction with Jews visiting from other countries, has brought the Cuban Jewish community to a new level of participation in Jewish life, and we can be proud that we have been part of it's development.

June Safran, executive director