Rabbi Susan Miller Rheins’ passport has a lot of stamps: Eastern Europe, Morocco and Israel, of course.
One place draws particular fascination. One place keeps calling her name.
Cuba.
“The allure of Cuba is my friends, the people in the Jewish community, the leaders of the Jewish community, being able to help support the synagogues, all the people there,” Miller Rheins told the IJN.
“They’re all friends. They feel like family. And that’s why I go back.”
Rabbi Miller Rheins has visited Cuba seven times since 2019, mostly on behalf of Ayelet Tours, which specializes in Jewish travel programs.
Each time the rabbi goes to Cuba, her entry into the country isn’t questioned, as she arrives from the US with medical supplies for Cuban citizens.
“One of the reasons why there are so many Jewish heritage tours going to Cuba is that we bring this medical aid,” Rheins recently told members of Denver Hadassah meeting at Temple Sinai.
“We help the people, we help the community. We’re asked to bring prescription medicine, over-the-counter medicine, band-aids, feminine hygiene products, anything we can think of.
There are five synagogues in the country, three of them in Havana. The Jewish community in Cuba numbers about 1,000.
Rabbi Miller Rheins has made friends with many of them. For security reasons, she cannot name those friends, or show pictures of them. One never knows if there are consequences around the corner, even if Miller Rheins says there as no risk of religious persecution there.
“There is no anti-Semitism in Cuba,” Miller Rheins says.
“They don’t have security. They do keep the doors locked just because they don’t want anything to happen.
“But there is no security to get into the building. It’s like a whole different world that we don’t know anymore.”
Miller Rheins’ most recent trip to Cuba was this past January. The next return date is uncertain.
Miller Rheins tries to stay apolitical, despite the extreme poverty throughout the country.
“It’s not the prettiest country,” the rabbi says.
“It’s very run down. It’s very gritty. It’s very dirty — a third-world country in a lot of ways.
“They don’t have the money to fix the buildings that are falling apart in Havana. They really have no money, but they’re good people.
“Cuba’s a wonderful country. The people don’t deserve what they’re getting. If you need a band-aid or Tylenol, you have to buy it on the black market.
“So our bringing over-the-counter supplies to the people in in Cuba . . . That’s why I go to Cuba.”
© IJN 2026
