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Díaz-Canel attends
Jewish Hanukkah celebrations
Amelia Duarte de la Rosa
(Foto: Jorge Luis González)
FIRST Vice President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez
attended the Hanukkah or Festival of Lights, in the
Grand Synagogue of Cuba’s Jewish Community in
Havana, on December 1.
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Díaz-Canel expresses his
satisfaction at taking part in the Jewish
festivity.
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Just
before the traditional ceremony began, Díaz-Canel
met with Adela Dworin, president of the Jewish
community in Cuba; leaders of Havana’s Jewish
communities; and Caridad Diego, director of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party’s Attention
to Religious Affairs Office. The meeting took place
in Havana’s Jewish Community Center.
The
Vice President lit the first menorah candle marking
the beginning of Hanukkah, the festival also known
as the Miracle of Lights and which takes place on a
different date every year, given that the Jewish
calendar is calculated on the basis of lunar months.
During the event, which included dances, songs and
theatrical pieces allegorical of the historical
celebration, performed by Jewish children and young
adults, a video was shown commemorating the
participation of the leader of the Revolution, Fidel
Castro, in the Hanukkah celebrations of 1998, and
that of President Raúl Castro in 2010.
At
the end of the cultural event, Adela Dworin
presented the Vice President with a Hanukkah memento
to recall his visit to the celebration.
Díaz-Canel expressed satisfaction with taking part
in the Hanukkah event and thanked those present for
showing him some of the traditions of the Jewish
people. “I appreciate the way you have maintained
and nourished the history, culture and knowledge of
the Jewish people in our beloved Cuba (...) Among
all of us we can cooperate and contribute to the
construction of a better society. It has been an
unforgettable evening,” he affirmed.
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