Yeshiva Continues Katrina Relief Efforts

Responding to the destruction left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Center for Jewish Future has organized a multi-pronged relief effort for the Jewish victims of the category four hurricane, which wreaked havoc across the state of Louisiana and flooded the city of New Orleans. The ongoing effort, spearheaded by Rabbi Moshe Bellows, director of Social and Organizational Leadership Training, has flown Yeshiva faculty and alumni to the disaster zone, and is currently training Yeshiva students to expand the ranks of the response team.

Shortly after an emotional appeal to the YU community by Rabbi Yisroel Shiff, of Beth Israel Congregation in New Orleans, CJF joined forces with the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) and the Orthodox Union (OU) in a fundraising effort to provide direct assistance to communities and families affected by the hurricane. Yeshiva also immediately sent Dr. David Pelcovitz, Professor of Education and Psychology at the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, to Memphis, Tennessee. In addition to conducting sessions for hurricane victims, Dr. Pelcovitz, a trauma specialist, spent time meeting with the teachers and rabbis of the Memphis community. Dr. Pelcovitz provided them with the necessary background training to deal with post-traumatic stress issues which may yet arise.

For the past two weeks, CJF has been hard at work developing novel and creative ways to help with the recuperation process. Upon receiving a distressed call from an undermanned Memphis school which had accepted evacuees, the Association of Modern Orthodox Day Schools, a CJF division, helped arrange for four Yeshiva alumni to travel to Tennessee. The quartet - Yoni Wiesel, Atara Fuchs, Eitan Eisen, and Adina Bloomberg - will remain there until Rosh Hashana, running resource-room type programs and simply being available for the children. CJF has also prepared educational materials for use at school assemblies, to help student victims and their peers deal with their new, challenging situations.

On Thursday, September 8, Rabbi Bellows received a call from Lee Wunch of the Jewish Federation in Houston, Texas, asking for help with Houston's hurricane relief efforts. The Center speedily assembled a response team of three alumni: Aliza Abrams, a Presidential Fellow at CJF; Rabbi Aryeh Lightstone, an Assistant Rabbi in West Orange, NJ; and Phil Moskowitz, a third-year semikha student in the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. All three are noted for their organizational experience and personal skills, and were personally trained by Rabbi Bellows before flying to Houston.

Originally, the team planned to focus on feeding refugees in the Astrodome and George R. Brown Convention Center. However, as a result of an extraordinary amount of volunteer work, it was anticipated that all refugees would be moved to temporary housing by Sunday, September 18.

Mr. Moskowitz explained, "Our immediate responsibility wasto organize Operation Compassion, an interfaith initiative to coordinate volunteer efforts at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston. Each religious denomination, depending on its size, was given specific dates to assume responsibility for volunteer efforts at the Center."

September 15 and 16 were designated by the Jewish Federation for "Operation Compassion Jewish Volunteer Days." The three Yeshiva alumni were assigned the responsibility of coordinating the relief efforts, and remain there indefinitely, spearheading massive local campaigns. Now that basic needs are being met, the team has turned its attention to rebuilding shattered lives. With the help of SmartVolunteer.org, a website dedicated to matching volunteers with nonprofit organizations and charities who are in need of their assistance, CJF hopes to help donors who wish to send items or monetary contributions find the people who need them most. "We are working closely with Rabbi Ranon Teller, of B'rith Shalom, a Conservative synagogue in Houston, and Rabbi Barry Gelman, of United Orthodox Synagogue," said Rabbi Lightstone. He added, "We have been welcomed with open arms by the community and are being hosted in the home of Baruch Brody, an influential leader of the greater Houston community."

Rabbi Kenneth Brander, dean of the Center for the Jewish Future, was thrilled with the response effort. "I am proud and inspired by the dedication of our alumni," he said. "Their teamwork and commitment to the Jewish community and beyond have set an example for us all."

Other potential initiatives of the CJF would enable schools and communities around the country to sponsor the purchase and furnishing of apartments for displaced hurricane victims. Yeshiva is also assessing the spiritual needs of the New Orleans Jewish community, and will provide religious articles such as Torah scrolls and prayers books for the approaching High Holidays. Student volunteers from QUEST - Quality Education Skills Training, a leadership training initiative at Yeshiva - are currently training to cope with the issues they will confront when they visit Houston, Memphis, Atlanta and perhaps New Orleans, for a Shabbat sometime in the next few weeks.

The CJF administrators were proud and pleased with their performance in the face of Katrina. "It was gratifying that I was able to go down there with people that I'd trained," Rabbi Bellows explained. "We are fulfilling the mandate of the Center for the Jewish Future: to be a service provider to the community at large, and come to their aid when necessary."

Individuals interested in making contributions are strongly encouraged to contact the response team at yuhelps@gmail.com to inquire which goods are in demand prior to sending them. Funds are urgently needed, and donations can be made online at HoustonJewish.org.