Campus Hillels head to Cuba on social justice missions
Since 1960, our government has maintained a trade embargo against Cuba, severely restricting travel to its shores. But Cornell University student Amy Wilensky thinks the time is ripe for a Hillel social justice mission to the island nation. “I don’t know much about the diplomatic relations,” says the student organizer, “but I am under the impression that this is a step in the right direction, at least with the Jewish community.”
Apparently, Wilensky is not alone. Travel to Cuba, with a Jewish twist, may be the next big thing at campus Hillels. The University of Wisconsin at Madison and American University both organized Hillel trips last year. And Willensky reports interest in Cornell’s first Hillel trip to Cuba as “astronomically high.”
The mission of the Cornell trip, like that of Wisconsin and American before it, is to support the Jewish community of roughly 800 in Cuba, regardless of national relations. “We’re just hoping to get down there, get our hands into the community and do community service,” says Willensky.
Professor Robert Skloot, who led the University of Wisconsin Hillel’s January 2002 trip, declared his mission a success. Students made friends with their host families in the town of Camaguey—which is home to roughly 80 Jews—attended services, and helped repair and paint a dilapidated community house. According to an article by Skloot in Madison’s Monthly Reporter, the group was able to accomplish its most important goal: “Bridging the gap between two distant communities who share a common heritage and a desire to reach out to each other.”
Sara Frailich, a student on Kloot’s trip, said the highlight of her visit was Friday night prayers. “The importance of those moments praying together in unison as Jews brought home the mission of this trip,” she told Wisconsin Week. “Our common ancestry and Judaism was stronger than language, and stronger than the American embargo against Cuba.”
