It’s one of the most solemn religious duties in Judaism: pidyon shvuyim, or freeing the captive. Wherever Jews are wrongly imprisoned, it is our collective responsibility to seek their release.
Thus we are celebrating the fact that Alan Gross, unjustly held in a Cuban prison for five long years, was set free this week after months of secret negotiations between the White House and Havana.
Along with negotiating freedom for Gross, the United States has announced steps to speed up normalized relations with Cuba. The two nations will exchange ambassadors, ease travel restrictions and open up trade, which means, among other benefits, that aficionados stateside may soon be able to legally light up Cuban cigars.
Some may debate the wisdom of easing up on the Castro regime, which for nearly 60 years has been an abuser of human rights and a force of brutal repression. But unrestricted travel, tourism, family visits, cultural exchanges and other person-to-person initiatives are long overdue, and would have been instituted long ago were it not for Florida’s intransigent and politically powerful Cuban American lobby, which for decades has slammed the door on any progress.
Whatever one’s position on Cuban-American relations, no one can debate the imperative of releasing a captive such as Gross. A contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Devel-opment, he was arrested in 2009 on charges of espionage while allegedly on a mission to set up Internet access and cell phones for the Cuban Jewish community.
Held in a small room at a Cuban military hospital, Gross suffered in captivity. His lawyer said Gross has lost most of his teeth, can barely walk and is blind in one eye. He has already lost 100 pounds and reportedly threatened a hunger strike unless he was released this year. Now he is back home with his family, flown to the United States on a government plane.
However, our work is not yet done. Jonathan Pollard continues to languish in a federal prison in North Carolina. Nearly 30 years after his conviction of spying for Israel, Pollard is a sick and broken man. He has been punished long enough and should be freed.
A long list of Jewish organizations and government officials, including a number of former secretaries of state, have called for his release. We join our voices to theirs and demand once again that the Obama administration show the same degree of mercy for Jonathan Pollard that the Castro regime showed Alan Gross.
Meanwhile, we can all rejoice that one of our captives is free, and the timing of his return from Cuba couldn’t be better.
Apparently Hanukkah miracles still happen.