"If we are given credit for two mitzvahs for each of the mitzvot in the Bible, we come up with the number of people in Cuba whose souls we facilitated to return to Judaism."

What is there to say after a week so packed with activity, experiences, and emotions that it felt like a month?

Ironically, and in sharp contrast to the hundreds of Cubans who make the attempt each year, it was much easier for us to leave Cuba than it had been to get here. But even as we underwent the same "hurry-up-and-wait" in Havana airport as we had in Miami airport, the feeling was much different. Then, we were too busy just trying to remember each others' names, keeping straight who was Marcia, and who Marcy, who Jack and who Jim, who Shaindle and who…um… well, you get the idea.

This time, however, we sat together as a group, a family, united by what we had all just seen and been through. Even though we had come as a mission, in many ways our true mission was just beginning. We had to tell others what we had seen, raise interest in the renaissance of Cuba's Jewish community, do our part to ensure that the bush would not be consumed.

And most of all, we would have to work to maintain the very special community we had formed in these short seven days. Here's to the Jews of Cuba, and to the Jews who brought a little Cuba back inside their souls.

Written by Rob Kutner
Web site by Sheryl Kutner
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