RJ Blog

As a fellow Eisendrath Legislative Assistant, Raechel Banks, wrote yesterday, “There are many ways to ‘share our bread with the hungry’ (Isaiah 58:7).” She discussed a very tangible  way of helping to combat hunger in our midst (I still have blisters on my fingers from cutting potatoes for 3 hours straight). Today, however, I want to talk about a way of sharing with the hungry that is more difficult to conceptualize, but has no less of an impact on millions of lives – international food aid. There are nearly one billion people around the world with insufficient access to food. [...]

In the six months since Superstorm Sandy devastated coastal communities in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, the Reform Jewish community has rallied to support the rebuilding effort, our synagogues, and the millions of people who were – and continue to be – impacted by the storm. Although much of the Reform Movement’s work has been behind the scenes – raising and allocating funds, coordinating volunteers, and keeping abreast of the rebuilding efforts two of our synagogues are undertaking – our members have risen to the occasion. Countless volunteer hours have been applied to the cause, entire trailers of donated [...]

by Rabbi Hara Person As we all try and process the horrors of the Boston marathon bombing, we must remember to stop and appreciate the good works that often gets overshadowed by the seemingly endless parade of horrible we read about each day. Almost six months ago almost the entire east coast was rocked by Superstorm Sandy.  While many of us have picked up and moved on, two New York-area congregations, Temple Sinai in Massapequa and West End Temple in Neponsit, are still picking up the pieces.  Like many coastal-area homes and businesses, the synagogues suffered severe storm damage which [...]

A little over a month ago, Hurricane Sandy caused unprecedented damage in the Northeast and Midwest of the United States and stretching into Canada. Your support and prayers have strengthened our Movement. This is an update to let you know how much we raised, how we are allocating it, and our next steps. In addition to collecting funds and referring volunteers, the URJ’s Congregational Network Staff has been reaching out to all congregations affected by the storm and advising congregational leaders on how to best help individual congregants and continue providing services to congregants despite damaged synagogue facilities.

The storm has long passed, but the horrors it left behind still remain. This heartbreaking new video from Odyssey Networks tells the story of West End Temple in Neponsit, NY, which was badly damaged when Hurricane Sandy whipped through the area. In a walk-through of the water-logged synagogue, volunteers – including the rabbi, president, and staff – are moved to tears when they speak of the congregation’s history and membership. Says Rabbi Marjorie Slome, the temple’s spiritual leader, “This is a very resilient community, and for that I feel grateful.” If you would like to donate to West End Temple’s [...]

by Rabbi Jessica Spitalnic Brockman Five minutes is all it took us to find two drivers. It all started as an email from a congregant asking us to send up some winter coats in boxes to the needy families in the mobile park her family owned in Moonachie, N.J., that was now devastated by Hurricane Sandy. That turned into one truck going to two places, New Jersey and Staten Island, where another congregant knew of needs. Just five minutes after we decided we were sending the truck, congregant Andrew Levy (whose wife Rebecca is from Staten Island) volunteered to drive [...]

The Union for Reform Judaism’s Hurricane Relief Fund has now collected nearly $464,000 for hurricane relief and has disbursed more than $100,000. The URJ’s Congregational Network Staff has been reaching out to all congregations affected by the storm and advising congregational leaders on how to best help individual congregants and continue providing services to congregants. The Women of Reform Judaism contributed $10,000 from the WRJ YES Fund toward Scholarships for Youth Impacted by Sandy, which aims to remove some of the financial barriers that might keep displaced teens from attending Reform Movement events when they need them most.

For those geographically removed from the East Coast, it may seem as though, in the four weeks that have passed since Hurricane Sandy hit, normalcy has returned to life in coastal New York and New Jersey. This piece by Chavie Lieber for JTA, published just before Thanksgiving, tells a very different story. Lieber writes, in part, Some three weeks after Sandy washed ashore, power has been largely restored in the tristate area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and, for most people, life has gradually returned to normal. But for some, normal has been forever redefined. “The history of our temple is now [...]

The Union for Reform Judaism’s Hurricane Relief Fund has now collected $447,500 for hurricane relief and has disbursed more than $100,000. The URJ’s Congregational Network Staff has been reaching out to all congregations affected by the storm and advising congregational leaders on how to best help individual congregants and continue providing services to congregants. The URJ has allocated $42,500 to support Reform congregations, of that, $25,000 was sent to Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn, NY,  to support their relief efforts as they have become a primary coordination point for hurricane relief. The remaining $17,500 was allocated to congregations with families [...]

Yesterday’s New York Times included a powerful, painful piece by Sharon Otterman titled “For Congregation Leaders, Hurricane is Taking a Toll.” It profiles four houses of worship badly damaged when Hurricane Sandy hit land two weeks ago, including West End Temple in Neponsit, N.Y., located in the Rockaways section of Queens. When the storm hit, it brought four feet of water and debris into the first floor of this Reform synagogue, destroying the congregation’s Torah and prayerbooks and causing significant damage to the building. To stay safe, volunteers have to wear masks in order to work inside the building. Otterman [...]

We want to provide an update about the Reform Movement’s response to the devastating impact of Hurricane Sandy. As we hope you know, the Union for Reform Judaism has activated our Hurricane Relief Fund, which is providing direct funding to: congregants who are suffering short or long-term loss of food, shelter or clothing; general and Jewish relief agencies in coordination with the Jewish Federations, NECHAMA – the Jewish Response to Disaster and others; and to Reform congregations damaged by the storm to help them resume operations as quickly as possible. Since the fund was established last Tuesday, October 30, the [...]

Flooded homes, ruined cars, condemned houses, piles of belongings on the curb… This is the kind of thing you see “somewhere else,” not in New York or New Jersey. And yet here we are, one week after Hurricane Sandy caused a tremendous amount of devastation across the area. I thought of it like any other storm. My parents lived in the same house in Oceanside for 33 years, and my grandmother has lived in either Brooklyn or Long Island her whole life. But she told me, “81 years, and I have never seen anything like it here.” Yesterday, I took [...]

As an employee of the Union for Reform Judaism, I was fortunate to be given Election Day off from work. To me, this speaks to the value the URJ places on the importance of voting. I planned to exercise my right at the end of the day and take my 3-year-old son to the polls with me so he could see what being an American means. I decided to spend the rest of my day off volunteering with my synagogue’s Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope has done a tremendous job galvanizing the community and organizing [...]

It was only about a month and a half ago that we started to include the prayer for rain once again in T’filah: Mashiv haruach umorid hagashem, “You cause the wind to shift and rain to fall,” (Mishkan T’filah, p. 78). In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, some of us may wonder, did it have to happen all at once? As in any time of trouble, we ask “Why?” Why was it so severe? Why did it cause so much destruction and devastation and loss? And why did it have to happen to us? Often, we can find the best [...]