Project Tzohar: September 13, 2005

On Monday, a member of Shir Chadash in Metaire, La., was able to go to look at the building, and discovered that itis in bad shape. It had been flooded with between five and 10 inches of water; all the flooring is ruined and mold has started growing up the walls and the pews. A contractor will begin work on Thursday, removing all the wet carpets, taking out the pews, and cutting up to four feet from the bottom of any sheetrock, hoping to keep the mold from reaching up to the ceiling. Many of the walls are brick, though; brick is porous and mold can grow on it, but it cannot be removed.

The contractor also will patch up the roof.

The rabbi's house has been damaged as well.

The synagogue will need new siddurim, chumashim, and tallitot.

Its insurance company has told the congregation that it did not have flood insurance.

Residents have been allowed back into Jefferson Parish only briefly, so no one knows exactly how many houses have been destroyed, but most likely at least 30 member families are now homeless.

Congregation Beth Israel in Biloxi, Miss., reports that it is waiting for a report from a structural engineer. Thirteen families have lost their homes; those families are scattered around in various places, some with family or friends in Biloxi and others farther away. They're trying to decide what to do next.

United Synagogue is providing a rabbi and cantor for High Holiday services, which will be held in a building lent by the Catholic diocese.

So far, more than 100 people from the Gulfport/Biloxi area are known to have died in the storm or its aftermath. Six hundred more are missing, and the longer they remain missing the greater the likelihood that many are dead. The entire community needs grief counselors.

Meanwhile, Congregation Beth Yeshurun in Houston has housed storm evacuees and hosted them for Shabbat meals; their children are invited to enroll in the shul's day and religious school.

Beth Yeshurun also helped when two Jewish nursing home residents died, one just before and one during the evacuation. For almost two weeks, their bodies remained in the building until both the floodwaters and the resulting flood of paperwork could be negotiated. One of the victims was buried in Baton Rouge last week; the other was brought to Houston and then on to New York.

On the other side of the ledger, a wedding that had been scheduled for Shir Chadash on the Sunday after the hurricane was celebrated at Beth Yeshurun instead.

This afternoon, Beth Yeshurun provided 14 new beds and bedding for 14 hurricane evacuees who are put up in apartments in Houston. Chabad began the project but did not have the resources to complete it.

On Thursday night, a group of shul volunteers plans to go to a local Baptist church to deliver, prepare, and serve meals to between 150 and 200 storm victims

On September 21, about 700 Jewish community members in Houston, including more than 400 from Beth Yeshurun, plan to go to the George R. Brown Convention Center to prepare and serve meals.

Please send us your news; we will post what we hear about our congregants' needs. We know that many Conservative synagogues are active in flood relief; please send us that news and we will share it.

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