The Voice of the Lehigh Valley Jewish Community
www.jewishlehighvalley.org
|
Issue No. 403
|
November 2017
|
Cheshvan/Kislev 5778
AWARD-WINNING PUBLICATION EST. 1977
Local couple explains complex situation for Jews in Venezuela p3
Prepare for Thanksgiving p18-19
COM.UNITY WITH MARK GOLDSTEIN p2 LVJF TRIBUTES p8 JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE p11 JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER p14-15 JEWISH DAY SCHOOL p16-17 COMMUNITY CALENDAR p23
Jewish community ramps up support in wake of more natural disasters This report was constructed with materials from JTA.
fared much better than synagogues in Houston, which were ruined by Hurricane Harvey. Mendelbaum said the Jews’ homes — like those of their San Juan neighbors — avoided destruction because their buildings are built with concrete and other reinforced materials. But the community is still suffering, he said, from the same lack of power, fuel and infrastructure as the entire island. Mendelbaum said it could take 14 hours to get gas and six hours waiting in “eternal lines” to buy food at one of the few functioning supermarkets.
Natural disasters Continues on page 22
COURTESY OF ROWE
Puerto Rico’s three synagogues closed for Rosh Hashanah as Hurricane Maria pummeled the island. Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico on Sept. 20 after causing widespread destruction on the Caribbean island nation of Dominica. Leaders of the Jewish community said there was no choice but to cancel the Rosh Hashanah services, as strong winds ripped trees out of the ground, tearing down power lines. The storm created what aid workers and residents described as a post-apocalyptic scenario:
power was out for much of the island, cellphone service was hard to find, gas was even more scarce and food supplies were dwindling. Roads were crumbling. Hospitals were on the brink. Puerto Rico’s Jewish community of 1,500, living mostly in San Juan, has largely been spared the worst of the damage, said Diego Mendelbaum, community director at the San Juan Jewish Community Center, which shares space with a Conservative synagogue. The city is also home to a Reform synagogue and a Chabad. The JCC’s fence and two of its gates were knocked down and its roof sustained damage, but it
Volunteer Eli Rowe’s team delivered supplies to the San Juan Chabad, as well as to vulnerable areas throughout Puerto Rico’s capital, Sept. 25, 2017.
‘Miracles’ amid ashes of Jewish camp in Northern California
COURTESY OF URJ CAMP NEWMAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Surrounded by blackened vegetation, Camp Newman’s iconic hillside Star of David survived a wildfire in Northern California.
Administrators of a Jewish summer camp destroyed by a wildfire in Northern California toured the site for the first time on Oct. 13, finding “miracles” amid the devastation. Although most of Camp Newman’s buildings were lost in the North Bay Area wildfires, camp officials said an entrance gate, prayer books and prayer shawls survived the flames, along with an iconic wooden Star of David that overlooks the Union for Reform Judaism camp from a rocky perch. The camp’s executive director, Ruben Arquilevich, and other camp officials, visiting the fire-ravaged site for the first time, were shocked by the scene even before they arrived. Arquilevich said the road to the
Non-Profit Organization 702 North 22nd Street Allentown, PA 18104
U.S. POSTAGE PAID Lehigh Valley, PA Permit No. 64
camp had featured “scenery filled with blue skies and green trees and grass, and the first part has always been a neighborhood with a couple of hundred homes.” “But as we drove through that neighborhood, all we saw were homes burned to the ground. This used to be a color scene, and it was black and white. It just haunted me,” he said. Arquilevich’s spirits were raised, however, when he saw that the giant gate to the camp, inscribed with the words “May you be blessed as you go on your way,” was standing. Grapes dangled from some vines in the camp’s vineyard, which was undisturbed. He was further relieved when the visitors found that a pair of Torah arks created by former camp artist-in-
residence Helen Burke had survived. One had been dubbed the “Little Ambassador.” At least 41 people have been killed as the result of 15 major wildfires across California. Over 217,000 acres and 5,700 structures have been destroyed. Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, which owns and runs the 480-acre camp east of Santa Rosa, joined Arquilevich for the tour of the site. He said officials are determined to hold camp in 2018. About 1,400 children attend Camp Newman each summer, and 40 to 50 staffers come from Israel to work as counselors. “We will have camp this summer,” Jacobs said. “I can’t tell you exactly where or how.”
Young families “hop” around town for Sukkot p12