UseThisummer06Rev 5/30/06 11:40 AM Page 41 PhotoEssay Summer 5766/2006 JEWISH ACTION 41
Burying Destroyed Torah Scrolls in New Orleans In a graveside ceremony held this past March, seven Torah scrolls belonging to Beth Israel Congregation, an OU member shul in the Lakeview section of New Orleans, were buried in a local Jewish cemetery. One of the most heavily damaged synagogues in the region, Beth Israel is located near the breach of the 17 th Street Canal levee, and its sanctuary was flooded with ten feet of water in the days following Hurricane Katrina. During the ceremony Edward Gothard, Beth Israel Rebuilding Committee chair, thanked the OU for the role it played in helping the shul restore its presence. Following the service, participants, including Rabbi Mayer Waxman, Orthodox Union director of the Department of Synagogue Services, visited the nearby burial plot of 3,000 sefarim (Jewish books) destroyed by the hurricane. Mr. Gothard then announced the receipt of two Torah scrolls: one from Brith Shalom Beth Israel Congregation in Charleston, South Carolina, and the other from Congregation Shaare Zedek Sons of Abraham in Providence, Rhode Island. Upon hearing the good news, congregants danced in the streets. The OU has been at the forefront of aiding the Jewish community in New Orleans and its displaced members. In the aftermath of the hurricane, the OU launched an appeal on its web site and coordinated fundraising efforts with the Rabbinical Council of America and 42 JEWISH ACTION Summer 5766/2006 The benches and much of the debris have been removed from the interior of Beth Israel Congregation. The OU has been working very closely with New Orleans leaders in planning the revival of the shul. Caption for previous page: Edward Gothard, Beth Israel Rebuilding Committee chair (left) and Rabbi Yisroel Shiff, the rabbi of Beth Israel at the time of the hurricane, take part in the burial of the sifrei Torah.
Ironically, one of Beth Israel s few surviving remnants after Katrina was the OU Acheinu poster, now covered in mold. Produced by the Department of Communications, the striking lithograph was made available to member synagogues to spur thoughtful consideration of Jews in difficult circumstances, wherever they may be. Seven Torah covers that used to adorn the now-destroyed sifrei Torah line the railing inside the shul. The Torah scrolls were buried next to Meyer Lachoff, the long-serving gabbai of Beth Israel who died as a result of the hurricane but was not able to be buried until two weeks later, due to the devastation. His son Irwin donated the plot next to that of his father for the Torah scrolls. Thus, the former gabbai rests next to the scrolls he used to handle every week. Summer 5766/2006 JEWISH ACTION 43
UseThisummer06Rev.qxp 6/2/06 8:03 AM Page 44 Rabbi Mayer Waxman, OU director of the Department of Synagogue Services, points out the water marks outside Beth Israel, indicating how high the water had risen during the hurricane. The exterior of Beth Israel. Yeshiva University s Center for the Jewish Future. More than two hundred thousand dollars was raised by the joint appeal and has been distributed to help assorted hard-hit individuals return to self sufficiency. Funds were also sent to Jewish schools in Memphis and Dallas that took in evacuees. Substantial contributions were also made to New Orleans Jewish day school and to the local Chabad shul, which is cur- 44 JEWISH ACTION Summer 5766/2006 rently the only functioning Orthodox minyan in the area; in addition, the local kosher deli received an interest-free loan. Since Yom Kippur, less than a month after the devastation, the OU has been sending rabbis and YU rabbinical students every three weeks to lead inspiring services at Beth Israel. These delegations will increase in frequency until the JA shul can sustain services on its own.