God's Hands

September 4th, 2005. 10:05am
Dear Chevre

I wanted to take a moment to inform all of you what Beth Shalom is doing to respond to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. This note will be a bit stream of consciousness, I am afraid.
Our members have been working around the clock to help our brothers and sisters from New Orleans. In planning for the influx of evacuees, we decided that the best approach would be to host people in our congregant’s homes. Many people have volunteered their homes. There are evacuees, some elderly and ill, in Beth Shalom homes right now and we are expecting another group in today. Beth Shalom and B’nai Israel members are driving down to New Orleans in a Jewish Federation sponsored rescue mission. These people will be brought to Beth Shalom to be processed and placed in our member’s homes. Our system of housing evacuees is not as visible as a centralized shelter, but it is much more comfortable and personal. The willingness of our chevre to open their homes and their hearts is inspiring.

There is not time to tell you everything that has been happening in the last week. Martha and I have been on the phone almost constantly helping the Jewish Federation care for the displaced community of New Orleans.

Calls for assistance are pouring into our synagogues and the Federation. All of the Rabbis are scrambling to respond. Late last night, for example, I received a call from an evacuee who was being sheltered in Dallas. His father died at the Woldenburg nursing home in the midst of its evacuation. He is calling in ZAKA, the Israeli rescue and recovery organization, to retrieve the body. If the body cannot be buried in New Orleans, the family needs a temporary grave in our cemetery. David Deitch has already staked out the grave and I have Rabenhorst standing by.

We have had requests for a brit milah and for a confirmation. Beth Shalom will honor all such requests. Our religious school will be open to every Jewish child who wants to come. All services, classes and programs will be open to our displaced brothers and sisters.

Beth Shalom will be the home of the New Orleans Jewish Endowment in exile. We will be cramped for space, but we will make this work. Thanks to Jessica and James Runnels and Bob Fields, we have the computers and wireless internet access that will enable the New Orleans Federation to do their important work while they are here.

You may see some new faces around Beth Shalom. Through the generosity of Rabbi Martin Weiner and Rabbi Larry Raphael we are bringing in Gail Kolthoff from San Francisco to assist Martha with the resettlement work and with religious school. Gail at various times worked for Martha, Marty and me. We are so grateful to our colleague Rabbi Eric Weiss at the San Francisco Jewish Healing Center for letting Gail have a two-week leave to help us.

Because the work we are doing is so consuming, Martha and I felt that we needed some help at home. Our niece and nephew, Nathan and Justine Hood, are coming from Tulsa to help. They also want to help directly in disaster relief and so you will be seeing them around.

This past Shabbat was our first since Katrina. The sanctuary was very full on Friday night. Despite the losses people have experienced, we welcomed the Holy Sabbath with joy. There was real ruach in the room and the kahal boomed out the liturgy. It was comforting just to be together.

I will try to keep updating this journal as things develop.

Many blessings to all those who have so generously volunteered their time and talents. You are God’s strong hands.