March 14, 2024

Shalom Chaverim (Dear Friends),

I just returned from Cuba as part of a group of 30 participants from the Adolph & Rose Levis Jewish Community Center’s “Travel With The J” program. This was the third and final trip of the season (the second of two cultural missions to Cuba) which began in the fall with a spectacular trip to Argentina led by our Levis JCC and an Argentinian cantor.

I found this visit to Havana to be a humbling and rewarding experience as we delivered many dozens of bags full of donated items to distribute to the needy (both Jewish and non-Jewish alike) via a Jewish community of less than 1,000 in this very complicated country. Once a vibrant and opulent city, the poverty today is heart wrenching. Our group brought medicine, gum, bandages, first aid supplies, toothpaste, toothbrushes, clothing, guitar strings, books, games, toys, and much more. We also gave from our wallets generously every chance we had. Perhaps the most memorable and moving moment for me (and most of my fellow travelers) was the Friday night service. Our group visited El Patronato (Beth Shalom) for an uplifting and inspiring service led by the community’s youth. Their passion and pride in being Jewish came through each prayer they sung and spilled over into the joyous Israeli dances they performed for us. That’s the Cuba we will remember most. I was so happy that my wife Lori shared this truly meaningful experience with me, along with Levis JCC Board Chair Steve Clarfield and his wife Dana, Board Member Stuart Ganslaw and his wife Donna, who actively serves on our Judy Levis Krug Boca Raton Jewish Film Festival’s Screening Committee. Lori, Dana, and Donna joined several women in lighting the Shabbat candles, and it is fair to say that throughout the services many tears of joy were shed. Our Marketing professional, Jennifer Giacone, added an incredible lens and perspective to the trip, and there are truly no words that can properly describe what lead staff Susana Flaum meant to this trip and the dozens she has led for our agency over the past 17 years.

This week’s Torah portion is Pekudei (Amounts Of), in the book of Exodus, the second of the Five books of Moses. In it, an accounting is made of the gold, silver, and copper donated by the people for the making of the Mishkan (Tabernacle). Two thousand years later, our Levis JCC group of thirty carried all we could to distribute to our brothers and sisters in Cuba. May we continue to go from strength to strength in representing and caring for our people.

Light Shabbat candles Friday night at 7:11 pm.
Shabbat ends Saturday night at 8:04 pm.

Am Yisrael Chai!
Shabbat Shalom

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Marty