Alan Gross Meets With Cuban Jewish Leaders in Jail During Hanukkah

Happier Days: Alan Gross, with his wife, Judy, in Jerusalem in 2005. Image by gross family

By JTA December 8, 2013

Cuban Jewish leaders met with Alan Gross, a Jewish-American contractor in prison in Cuba.

Havana community President Adela Dworkin and vice president David Prinstein met with Gross on the last day of Hanukkah, two days after Gross marked his fourth year in jail in Cuba, according to the Associated Press, citing a statement from the Beth Shalom Temple in Havana. The Cuban Jewish leaders have met with Gross for other Jewish holidays throughout his imprisonment.

“During the encounter we could see that he was in better spirits, more physically recovered,” the statement reportedly said.

Gross, 64, a subcontractor for the State Department on a mission to hook up Cuba’s small Jewish community to the Internet, was arrested in December 2009 as he was leaving Cuba. The Maryland resident is serving a 15-year sentence for “crimes against the state.

Gross says he has lost 100 pounds since his imprisonment and suffers from painful arthritis. He reportedly leaves his shared cell once a day for one hour.

In a letter sent last week, Gross asked President Obama to personally help secure his release.

The Cuban government has indicated that it wants the United States to allow the return to Cuba of five spies in prison or on probation in the U.S. in return for negotiations on Gross.

Jewish and faith groups, and Gross’ wife, Judy, demonstrated on behalf of Gross last week at Lafayette Park outside the White House along with officials from the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO