Despite Cuba travel warning, first Canadian Jewish mission to Havana in 7 years delivers medicine, supplies—and baseball gear

The first Jewish aid mission from Canada since 2019 arrived in Havana, Cuba on Feb. 3, loaded with seven extra suitcases full of batteries, pills, and hundreds of pieces of donated baseball equipment.

The delegation from Toronto’s Beth Sholom synagogue spent the past week delivering pharmacy supplies and other necessities–which they donated to Jewish seniors, Cuban synagogues, and even to a pharmacy housed inside the Jewish community centre in Havana, which supplies Jewish Cubans and also nearby hospitals.

Local Jewish leaders say this group is the first Canadian Jewish mission to come to Cuba in nearly seven years, since before the pandemic in 2019. And officials worry there might be fewer going forward. The Canadian government raised its travel warnings for Cuba on Feb. 4, citing widespread economic problems impacting tourists, including more frequent power outages, lack of food and fresh water, and fuel shortages.

The island, a popular destination for Canadians, was hit in October 2025 by a damaging monster hurricane. But the country’s difficulties worsened noticeably in the last month, after the U.S. president ordered all shipments of Venezuelan oil to Cuba be halted, as part of the capture of Venezuela’s former dictator Nicolas Maduro on Jan. 3.

On today’s episode of The CJN’s flagship podcast “North Star”, host Ellin Bessner speaks with Beth Sholom’s Cantor Eric Moses, who organized the trip, and with William Miller, a Jewish community leader in Havana; plus we hear from Benji Tock of Toronto. The teenager didn’t make the trip, but his bar mitzvah project–collecting eight duffle bags full of donated baseball bats, cleats, gloves and other gear–arrived safely in Cuba, too, destined for local Jewish players bound for this coming summer’s Maccabiah Games in Israel.

Related stories

• To donate to the Cuban Jewish community, contact Toronto-based Cantor Eric Moses cantor@bethsholom.net
• Donate to the Global Seder initiative of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto. https://www.jewishtoronto.com/donate
• Learn more about Canadian efforts over the decades to help the small Jewish community of Cuba with kosher food and basic daily supplies, in The CJN archives.
• In 2014, four Toronto bar mitzvah boys raised thousands to help Cuba’s Jewish community purchase medical supplies, in The CJN.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner )
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director)
• Music: Bret Higgins

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