“The Wailing Wall” and the Dome of the Rock in the Old City of Jersualem, Israel. Photo by Joshua Newman

On April 13, 2009 President Barack Obama lifted all restrictions on the ability of Cuban-Americans to visit and send remittances to relatives in the island nation.

“President Obama has directed that a series of steps be taken to reach out to the Cuban people to support their desire to enjoy basic human rights and to freely determine their country’s future,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.

This comes after a group of senators suggested a new approach to policy toward Cuba and unveiled a bill March 31 to lift the 47-year-old travel ban.

“The debate [over U.S. sanctions on Cuba] is important because it has implications for security interests in the Straits of Florida, broader U.S.-Latin American relations, and global perceptions of U.S. foreign policy,” wrote Sen. Richard G. Lugar, R-Ind., one of the bill’s sponsors.

While some hope that a new U.S attitude toward Cuba will provide an opportunity to open the lines of communication regarding trade and human rights, there is concern about how an influx of American money will be handled by the Cuban government.

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“Cuba is anti-Israel,” Jaime Suchlicki, director of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, said.  “It supports Hezbollah and Hamas.”

The Israeli Embassy’s press department failed to comment on Israel’s policy toward Cuba because of “bureaucratic red tape,” but Israel routinely supports the U.S embargo.

Cuba and Israel cut ties in 1973 after the Yom Kippur War, when Cuba sent financial and military aid to support the war efforts of Arab states in conflict with Israel.

“If the money is being used for anything other than the necessities, it will be unfair,” said Marcus Kerbel, president of the Cuban Hebrew Congregation at Temple Beth-Shmuel in Miami.  “Only time will tell where the money is going to be used.”

For Cuba’s minority of Jewish citizens, this political strife makes expressing loyalty to both homelands difficult and complex.

“There is a difference between the official rhetoric of Cuba and the day-to-day,” Kerbel said.

The Cuban government routinely expresses condemnation of Israel’s government but allows its Jewish citizens to make “aliyah,” a term for the immigration of Jews to Israel.

“Cuba exists in a web of contradictions,” Ruth Behar, a visiting anthropology professor at the University of Miami, said.

Behar is a Cuban Jew whose family chose to make “aliyah” in 1961.  Behar was four years old at the time and since then has lived in both countries to better understand fellow Cuban Jews, the subject of her life’s work.

“Seeing all these successful American Jews [visit Cuba] has made Jews on the island curious about the world Jewish community,” Behar said.  “You can continue to be the object of their gaze or you can go.”

Deepening interest in the culture and identity of the international Jewish community has led those Cubans to choose “aliyah.”

But for some Cuban Jews, moving to Israel is not based on the ideals of the Zionist Movement, which calls for the return of all Jews to Israel through “aliyah.”

Instead, Israel has become an “exit strategy” - a way to leave the Cuban communist government behind, which Behar said is never openly discussed.

“In Cuba, since you really can’t express dissent, the only way to do so is by immigrating,” Behar said. “You love it or you leave it.”

Should Cuban Jews choose to leave, their travel arrangements, paperwork and fees are taken care of by the Jewish Agency for Israel, a global organization created in 1929 to rescue Jews in distress, facilitate “aliyah” and absorption, educate people on Jewish Zionism and build a global Jewish community.

“The core belief of the Jewish Agency is a strong Jewish future requires a strong Israel at its heart,” states the official Web site for the Jewish Agency, which details the process of making “aliyah.”   From Hebrew language lessons to psychological advice for leaving your old home, the Jewish Agency claims to assist immigrants in every possible way, according to the site.

Upon arrival in Israel, Cuban Jews can live in an absorption center and receive a monthly stipend and medical coverage for up to one year before beginning a working life in Israel.

Behar said some are content living in Israel while others try to immigrate again to countries like the United States and Canada.

Wherever their final destination, Behar has seen many Cuban Jews who left the socialist republic save their money to return to Cuba as tourists.

“In the contemporary moment, Jews who leave don’t break their ties with Cuba,” Behar said.  “The Jews who left in the sixties broke their ties.”

After one year as president of Cuba, Raul Castro’s most identifiable success has been his increased foreign interactions worldwide.

“In the last four months, nine Latin American leaders have gone to Cuba to meet with Castro,” said Dr. Brian Latell, senior research associate for the Institute of Cuban and Cuban- American Studies at the University of Miami.  “That’s quite a procession,” he said.  ”In the 50 years since the Castro revolution, I don’t think the Castro government has had a higher international standing.”

Yet, Suchlicki said international openness has not improved the quality of life on the island.

“The fact that Cuba has a few allies [or not] is meaningless to Cuban Jews,” he said. “They still have essential problems like getting food.”