A Message from Rabbi Eric Yoffie

Sept. 23--With another hurricane bearing down on the beleaguered Gulf Coast, the courage and endurance of those who left their homes and communities a few short weeks ago is being tested yet again, and hundreds of thousands more are facing the uncertainty of what lies ahead. The Union is in contact with our congregational leadership from Corpus Christi to South Louisiana, assuring them that we are ready to assist them, including providing emergency shelter at our camps. As information becomes available, we will post it on the web at www.urj.org/relief.

As of this morning, Greene Family Camp outside Waco, TX, was hosting more than 300 evacuees, including many from New Orleans who have been staying in Houston, and many more are anticipated. The Henry S. Jacobs Camp is welcoming those who are within driving distance of Utica, MS, including 90 medical personnel from the University of Minnesota and the Mayo Clinic who had been providing relief work in Lafayette, LA.

While it is too soon to tell what will be needed in Rita’s wake, we do know that the need remains critical for Katrina’s victims, and I thank you for your generosity. Donations and gift cards continue to arrive at our New York headquarters, and just yesterday six truckloads arrived at the Jacobs’ Ladder warehouse in Utica, MS, where volunteers are sorting the materials and bringing them to those who need them. The committees that have been appointed to determine how these funds will be distributed are meeting, mindful that both general relief and relief for our congregations are needed. As an example of how we are assisting our congregations, the committee has determined to use a small portion of the more than $2 million that has been donated so far for Reform services Erev Rosh Hashanah and Erev Yom Kippur for evacuees in Houston and Baton Rouge.

The stories of help are large and small. This Shabbat, I want to share just a few of those that have come across my desk thus far:

• Melanie Rivkin, a high school sophomore in Cherry Hill, NJ, sent dozens of boxes of individually packed kits of needed toiletries—shampoo, soap, shower gel etc—a continuation of the Bat Mitzvah project she began when she was 11.

• Within the space of one week after Hurricane Katrina, Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, TX, “adopted” a family of 31 people (five generations of one large extended family) who had lost their homes and all their belongings. The congregation has helped them find and lease seven apartments, completely furnished with donations from CBI members. • Temple Beth Torah in Upper Nyack, NY, partnered with the county United Way, which secured a truck and got businesses to donate goods. Donated items that were not on the list of needed goods were distributed to local shelters before the truck made its way to Utica. • Jill Goldstein, a student at NYU and an intern in the Union’s KESHER College Department, volunteered the long Labor Day weekend in the Houston Astrodome. • In Baton Rouge, the Jewish community is in overdrive. While Beth Shalom has been a major support for the Jewish community—even organizing to pick up people and rescue Torahs—Congregation B’nai Israel opened an emergency shelter, then made sure that all the evacuees in their care found suitable housing and support, paying for plane tickets that took families to San Diego, Atlanta and elsewhere across the continent. The congregation is now hosting an emergency medical clinic. • In Skokie, IL, it took less than a week for Temple Beth Israel to fill a 53-foot truck with goods donated from its members as well as other Reform, Conservative and Orthodox congregations. It was the first truck to reach the warehouse. • Temple Israel in West Palm Beach, FL, re-united 7-year-old Dontre’lle Martin with her family, Julie Godfry, the temple’s youth director, and Keren Eckstein, a member of the youth group, flew to Texas to meet the girl and bring her to Florida, where she was reunited with her mother. • Members of Larchmont Temple in Larchmont, NY, bought close to $20,000 in gift cards and sent them to the Shreveport LA Federation for distribution to evacuees. • Brandi Moore of Biloxi will celebrate her Bat Mitzvah in the warmth of the Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas, which is welcoming Brandi and her family for the High Holidays and hosting Brandi’s celebration.

We are trying to compile the full list of all that has been done. Please be sure to share your congregation's stories with us by sending an e-mail to [email protected] . And we hope you will continue to publicize the need for donations to be made to the Union’s Hurricane Disaster Relief Fund at http://urj.org/relief/fund/

During this month of Elul--a month of preparation for the High Holy Days--tradition has us read Psalm 27 daily as a reminder that no matter what befalls us, God will not abandon us.

God will shelter me in a pavilion on an evil day, grant me the protection of God’s tent, raise me high upon a rock. God will raise my head high above my enemies. I will bring God offerings with shouts of joy, singing, chanting praise to Adonai. Adonai, hear my voice when I cry aloud; be gracious to me, answer me. (Psalm 27:5-7)

Tomorrow night we will observe S’lichot, marking the final days of preparation for the yamim nora’im—the days of awe. There will be moments throughout the High Holy Days when the liturgy will speak directly to the pain and sense of vulnerability we are feeling in the aftermath of two powerful hurricanes. May the words we will pray inspire us to continue working to support and comfort those most effected—whose lives have been uprooted. Let us be their roots, let us spread God’s tent over them and help them find their way back to joy and praise.

Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie President Union for Reform Judaism