The world has been watching Los Angeles as wildfires have burned thousands of structures around the city. American Jewry’s second largest community hasn’t been spared.
Los Angeles area state senator Ben Allen is a member of Kehillat Israel (KI), the main synagogue in the Palisades. KI is closed, but remains standing – unlike the house opposite it in Pacific Palisades, the coastal neighbourhood where eight people remained missing when the JC went to press.
When I spoke to him, Allen recounted how Sinai Temple’s rabbi called KI’s rabbi to ask how Sinai could help. Over a third of congregants at KI have lost their homes, and Sinai’s rabbi offered them sanctuary for Friday night, along with children’s toys and clothing. Last Shabbat, 200 KI congregants showed up. Most were not Friday night regulars, and 80 per cent were displaced. “We did a beautiful service,” said Rabbi Erez Sherman, which was helpful during this “time for incredible heartbreak and mourning”.
The fire miraculously stopped across the street from Temple Israel in Hollywood, where Michael Friedland is a member. “They hurried over and removed the Torahs”, Friedland commented. “I suppose it’s the Unetaneh Tokef (the prayer describing the awe of the Day of Judgment). They are just words until they aren’t.”
“Who [shall perish] by water and who by fire” (a line from the prayer) takes on new meaning when a cosmopolitan, 21st-century city struggles to contain wildfires. At least 24 are now dead as a result of them and, as of Monday morning, 92,000 Los Angeles County residents had been issued mandatory evacuation orders. Another 89,000 had evacuation warnings.
“Our immediate community is safe for now,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told me. “The fires reached about five miles from our neighbourhood, which is home to scores of synagogues, Jewish schools, kosher restaurants, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center. The air quality is abysmal and impacting virtually everyone. And we are the lucky ones.” Cooper continued: “In a time of peace, the scope of the losses are unfathomable.”
AccuWeather Global Weather Center estimates the cost of the damage from the wildfires could reach $150 billion (£123 billion). This disaster has brought people together, though. Roz Rothstein, co-founder and CEO of StandWithUs, told me: “The amount of solidarity is heartwarming, as we see people everywhere opening their homes and hearts, taking in others who have become homeless or were forced to evacuate and volunteering their time and resources.”
Jason Moss, executive director of the Jewish Federation of the Greater San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys, where 5,000 structures have been lost, called the situation “catastrophic”. One family lost their home and business on the same day. His federation is now housing the staff of the destroyed Pasadena Jewish Temple and Centre (PJTC) and its synagogue nursery. When PJTC held services at a local private school last Friday “about 350 people” attended, and a rabbi who’d lost his home delivered the sermon.
Moss’s board is calling the affected, letting them know “the Jewish community is with them”. The Federation is also gathering monetary and other practical help. Therapists, for example, are offering pro bono services. Moss opened his own home to friends “because if the roles were reversed, this is what we’d appreciate”. Moss added: “Our Jewish community is forever changed, (however) these types of instances remind us of the power of community.”
Ron M, who lives in Calabasas, north-west of Los Angeles, expects something similar in his area. There’s “a very large Jewish and Israeli-American population there”, he said. “The community is extremely supportive, there is a very active Chabad presence, and the spirt of generosity is strong. During disasters it can be very challenging to unite as a community, since there is little communication due to the power outages. The uniting comes after the disaster.”
Cooper reflected: “Trust in the top elected officials, in the top bureaucrats who are supposed to manage our water, emergency services etc, has been shattered. We need a return to competency, not hackneyed slogans and virtue signalling. Whoever can provide assurance that our basic safety and communal needs will be provided, will win our votes. Not a matter of Democrat or Republican. It is, as the fires have tragically proven, a matter of life and death.”
In the short term, Moss cautions: “We’re about 200 yards into a marathon, and it’s important to remember people need support throughout the entire [rebuilding] process.”
American Jews are pulling together. The tragedy of Unetaneh Tokef is already being followed by the generosity of its referenced mitzvot.
Melissa Langsam Braunstein is a writer based in the Washington DC area.
@slowhoneybee
