By Elanit Kayne
By Elanit Kayne
Part of me wishes I hadn't lived through Katrina, but I feel blessed I had. What I gained from the tragedy outweighs what I lost materially.
I lost all my artwork--my paintings, sketches and photographs. These were priceless, but life itself, breath, can’t be bought.
I was renting a historic house outside the French Quarter, but when a natural disaster hit, it could not withstand the fury. I’d always been able to get around fine with my bicycle, but I never needed to outride a hurricane.
New Orleans has the Uptown Chabad of Rabbi Zelig Rivkin, a seven mile bike ride from my home; and the Metarie Center of Rabbi Nemes, 20 minutes away. I had a beautiful and inspirational Shabbat at the Nemes,’ who urged me to stay. But, being independent-minded, I returned home alone. I didn't realize just how serious the threat was.
Sunday morning, as the skies turned gre
y and the wind began to hiss, I knew I had to get out. To make a long story short, I got to the Nemes home by 1:00 pm. They were still packing up. In the end, we didn't have time to evacuate.
People now ask me if I was scared, but I wasn't. I felt protected and secure. It obviously helped that we were in a brick home with closed steel hurricane shutters, but more than that, it was the sense that we were a family.
There were thirteen of us in the house. The love that permeated the home made it hard to believe that outside those walls, foundations were being ripped to shreds.
Throughout the storm we prayed, laughed, played games, and told stories. What impressed me most was the resourcefulness and care which the Nemes' provided. It wasn't just that there was food and water, which we were blessed to have. There was no hierarchy, and everyone had an opinion. We were all part of the solution. Even the kids. Every voice counted.
You’d expect bickering with so many people cramped in tight quarters, during an extremely stressful and frantic time. But any time someone became depressed or worried, one of us would reassure the other. It was as if we took turns being the one who was scared and then being the one who was comforting. The fact that we were able to switch roles and be both giver and receiver was a great balance. Every single person in that house, children included, recited Psalms with meaning, intensity and focus.
We spent three long days and nights in the Nemes home. Thrilled as I was to finally leave, part of me was sad. There was something beautiful and powerful about the relationships created. I knew when we left the house it would never be the same.
The Nemes' resourcefulness didn't stop when we left. One of the most beautiful images in my memory is o
f Chani with the children gathered around her. We were stuck in an endless line for gasoline in Mississippi. I turned around to see Chani barbequing a full meal in the middle of a parking lot, with a small grill, cooking a real meal! It was not just that she was feeding our bodies, but the kind of lesson that fed our minds and souls even more.
She amazed me in how she kept a routine for everyone throughout the whole ordeal. Even while we sat in the car, there was a time and place for everything. She came up with something to keep the kids busy and occupied. As long as we were active, we had no time to fully recognize the gravity of the situation.
I really don't have a home of my own right now, but I know that I will make it through. Because I have people who love me, and if need be, will care for me. I will make it because I am stronger for what I endured and have a desire to come out of this a better person. If I am left with nothing, I must create the something that I want. My life and art will reflect what I gained through this tragedy. Faith, love and unity are the foundation to everything we have. I know Divine Providence first hand and am thankful for everything I have.
Elanit Kayne creates installations, paintings and sculptures. Her work has been covered in media outlets from CNN and the NY Post to Dutch Television and Italian Glamour.
| Chabad vs. Katrina By Susan L. Rosenbluth, Jewish Voice and Opinion, Englewood, NJ
10,000 Jews There were several Chabad Centers, three kosher restaurants and two bed-and-breakfast hotels. Tourists in the French Quarter could walk to Orthodox Cong. Anshe Sfard. Tulane University, served by Chabad and Hillel, estimates that 30 percent of its 6,000 undergraduates are Jewish. “Our community is small, but very vibrant,” said Yochanan Rivkin, Chabad Rabbi at Tulane. Active Website “Where are the Kaufmans?” was posted at 6:13 am on August 31. By 7:46 am, someone named Eliyahu posted that they were “safe in Texas, baruch Hashem.” By 8:35 am, the Kaufmans themselves logged on, reporting that they were in Plano, north of Dallas, “thinking of all of you.” There were also heartbreaking messages, such as one from Bernie Hirsch begging help for his father trapped in a second floor bedroom downtown. Posting from Dallas, Mr. Hirsch said he hadn’t heard from his father and was frightened. “Please, help me or tell me who I need to talk to get him out of there?” he wrote. Another man wrote that his mother had died and needed help in getting her out of New Orleans for burial. The website also carried messages of hope. One said the situation recalled the story of the Maggid of Mezritch who lived in abject poverty. A wealthy man once visited his hovel and asked “Where is your furniture?” The Maggid responded by asking the wealthy man, “And where is yours?” The man replied, “Oh, back home, things are different. Now, I’m just traveling.” The Maggid said, “I, too, am traveling. In my true “home,” things are also very different.” “When we lose all our possessions, we realize how temporary life is, and we thank G-d for allowing us to live a meaningful life, which makes part of our life eternal,” it said. Love in Action Chabad of Houston’s 18 apartments at the Texas Medical Center, which normally house patients and families from around the world for medical treatment, were available for the hurricane refugees. A job-placement network helped victims find temporary or permanent employment, and day schools throughout the country welcomed children tuition free. A little girl with diabetes arrived minus insulin or the cash to purchase more, so Chabad of Nashville provided it. Rescue Squads “We are now working to rebuild our Community. In the Jewish spirit of resolve and resiliency, we are focusing on renewal, revitalization, and rejuvenation. The beautiful, thriving, and vibrant community that was, will pale in comparison to what will yet gloriously emerge in its place,” said Rabbi Rivkin. |
|||
Bittersweet Torah Dedication
By Seth Mandel
They say you can’t go home again, but home sometimes comes back to you.
Freida Posnock learned this recently when the only remaining Torah scroll from her New Orleans childhood synagogue was dedicated at the Monroe Chabad Center in New Jersey.
Posnock had been active in the New Orleans Congregation. When Rabbi Eliezer Zaklikovsky began organizing his New Jersey Chabad center in 2002, Posnock and her husband, Lenny, got involved there, too.
The new Chabad Center needed a Torah, and the dwindling New Orleans synagogue still had over 15 Torahs, so the Monroe Chabad purchased one of those Torahs, and not a moment too soon. Shortly after the Torah was brought to New Jersey, Hurricane Katrina struck, wiping out all of Beth Israel’s remaining Torah scrolls.
After tearing through the New Orleans synagogue’s windows, the floodwaters collected in the sanctuary. A search and rescue team entered the synagogue two weeks later to find the scrolls in 8 feet of water, damaged beyond repair.
“They all had to be buried,” Zaklikovsky said. “Unfortunately, not a single Torah survived the hurricane, other than this one right here.”
“I helped save part of my childhood community’s history,” Posnock says. “If we didn’t buy it, this Torah, too would have been destroyed. My old shul is finding continuity through our using their Torah.”
The dedication was bittersweet, but the symbolism was undeniable. “People were in tears,” Zaklikovsky said. “People never dreamed they’d see a chuppah canopy with a Torah and beautiful new crown on it here in Monroe. We danced with the Torah feeling our Jewish continuity.”
Addressing the Republican Jewish Coalition in the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., President George W. Bush said:
“At Tulane University, Chabad Rabbi Rivkin brought teams of students to New Orleans, southern Mississippi and other communities hit by the storm. He said, let's take it right to the middle of the storm area to help people. They helped rescue stranded people; they distributed bottled water and self-heating kosher meals; they cleaned up and helped salvage homes; they provided spiritual support for those who lost loved ones. One of those rescued from New Orleans put it this way: “Chabad saved lives.”
From the minute it was clear that Hurricane Katrina was going to “be real,” Chabad of Louisiana stepped up to the plate, working to evacuate residents, students, and guests, and offering food, shelter, and emotional and spiritual comfort to New Orleans Jews who ended up in Houston, Austin, Dallas, Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville, Atlanta, Birmingham and Florida.