by Gary Aidekman

January 1, 2009

On Nov. 23 I completed my most recent visit to Israel. The next day I was in West Orange at our JCC attending a panel discussion on MetroWest area families in financial distress.

Three days later I celebrated Thanksgiving with family in Livingston. Seven days later, on Dec. 4, I arrived in Cuba. Four days later, I was back in West Orange attending a Solomon Schechter Day School board meeting.

Other than pointing out that I have a busy schedule and am well traveled, why bore you with my comings and goings?

In a little more than two weeks, I traveled through modern-day Jewish time and space at what for me was lightning speed. And my Jewish emotions were pulled in every possible direction: pride, fear, anger, joy, sorrow. At the end of it all, I could hear my grandmother, of blessed memory, say, “It’s hard to be a Jew, but it’s good to be a Jew.”

I was in Israel for the national United Jewish Communities’ General Assembly and a MetroWest Major Gifts mission. Israel, as the center of Jewish life, is so vibrant. For me, a highlight was the privilege of participating in the celebration of UJC MetroWest’s 30-year partnership with the community of Neve Eliahu in Rishon Letzion. UJC MetroWest is unique in the Jewish communal world — it maintains partnerships with seven communities in Israel: Rishon Letzion, Ra’anana, Ofakim, Merchavim, Gush Etzion, Kibbutz Erez, and Horfesh. More important, we work as true partners; and even more important, we create new partnerships among our communities.

In Rishon Letzion, on that November evening, we all came together: politically Right and Left, religious, not very religious, economically strong and economically challenged, academic overachievers and developmentally disabled, Jews and Druze, Americans and Israelis — a great assembly of Jews and those who stand by our side. If you believe, as I do, that we Jews are a people with a purpose, how could you not kvell?

And from that high, a return home to New Jersey with anticipation of not only Thanksgiving with family but also with the knowledge that our MetroWest community, along with the rest of our country, is in an economic struggle of proportions greater than anything my baby boomer generation has ever seen. Between my return and the holiday, I listened to a panel of our agency executives discuss what they’re seeing and what their agencies are doing. I also received personal reports on the dramatic increase in caseloads facing agencies like Jewish Vocational Service and Jewish Family Service. Similarly, in came word of challenges faced by our day schools, the JCC, and agencies serving the developmentally disabled and elderly as both donors and service beneficiaries are forced to tighten their belts.

Two days later, on Wednesday evening, we all received the shocking news of the tragedy in Mumbai. I was stunned by the terrorists’ murder of nearly 200, including Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg of the Mumbai Chabad house. Again, our people selected for murder. I expressed my sorrow and that of the whole MetroWest community to a representative of Chabad. Sometimes we Jews go from highs to lows and then, sadly, lower lows.

Just a week later, I arrived in Havana with 16 MetroWest businesspeople and two MetroWest staff members. Travel to Cuba is banned for most Americans. We received a license from the Treasury Department based on an exception for groups conducting humanitarian missions. Our group collected more than $50,000 worth of medicine samples from doctors, pharmacies, and pharmaceutical companies, and brought them with us to stock a pharmacy run by one of Havana’s Jewish congregations. We also brought in clothing and other materials requested by the community.

The Cuban-Jewish community has shrunk from 15,000 in 1959 to 1,500 today. In 1990, Castro relaxed the anti-religion attitude of the government, and many who had cast off their Jewish identity began to return. In 1992, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee was given permission to assist with rebuilding the Jewish community.

How tough is it to maintain a Jewish community in Cuba? The average wage is $20 to $30 per month regardless of education or skills. Although food costs are subsidized, food is also rationed. And although medical care is free and the doctors well-trained, medicines and medical equipment are in short supply.

JDC assists by providing food and hygiene packages. Groups like ours bring in medicines, and JDC staff provide cultural and religious services.

At a concert by teens and young adults and at a subsequent party with youngsters from the Jewish Sunday school, participants clearly relished the opportunity to show their skill at performing Jewish and Israeli folk dances. We felt their pride and saw how a community that was near death has been resurrected during the past 18 years.

And so, these past few weeks, I’ve felt joy and sorrow. We are an incredible people who share both good times and grief. Our ties cross oceans. Our accomplishments are incredible. Our future, though challenged, is assured, so long as we recognize our special relationship to each other and come to our mutual aid.

I was inspired in Israel and in Cuba. Over and again, we have come back from adversity; in these troubled times, I take comfort in my recent experiences and know we shall go from strength to strength.

Gary Aidekman is president of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ.

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