A UJA mission finds Cuba's Jewish community
making another modern revival.

HEIDI FISCHGRUND Story and photographs

Above: Author Heidi
Fischgrund in
Havana's Sephardic
Center.

Right: Eugene Sher-
izen, one of three
Detroiters on the
Cuba mission, met
up with Solomon
Gonte, who has a
cousin in Detroit.

1/16
1998

122

eidi Fischgrund, a 33-year-old
West Bloomfield mother of three,
traveled to Cuba in December as
a member of the United Jewish
Appeal's Young Leadership Cabinet. The 39-
member group, including three Detroiters, trav-
eled under a license granted to the American Jew-
ish Joint Distribution Committee by the Cuban
and U.S. governments.
The group delivered much-needed medical sup-
plies and clothing to the impoverished Jewish
community in Havana and spent almost a week
delving into the lives and history of Cuba's Jews.
Despite their small numbers — estimates of the
Jewish population vary from 1,200 to 1,800
Cuban Jews are determined to revive their insti-
tutions and to grow into a flourishing society once

again.
Following are excerptsfrom a journal that Fis-
chgrund kept during her stay: