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This article originally appeared on the Caje website; our staff is now actively involved in developing and providing programs for NewCaje.
Judaism is rich in both practical humanitarian, psychological and spiritual wisdom about how to survive and respond to disasters of every kind. Here you will find important resources for both.
Goal #1: Pause to assess your own reaction to the disaster; this will help you prepare to be with students.
Trauma times are like being in an airplane, first the parent/teacher needs to put on his/her own oxygen mask before helping the youth/student.
How many types of emotions do you have about the unfolding disaster? About the deaths and losses, the horrific scenes, the slow government response, the price of gas and much much more? Here is a link to a way to constructively emptify yourself so that you have room to fill with energy for teaching and space to take in the emotional states, questions, action agendas and concerns of your students.
What helps you to stay available and in balance - someone to debrief to after class? Time with a friend or loved one? A massage? Torah Study? Meditation? Make appointments for self-care within your own support system before you go to teach.
Goal #2: The mitzvah of shema v’ahavta, listening and loving. Take the emotional temperature of your students about their reactions to the disaster, help them decompress and express.
No matter where you are located – close to or distant from a disaster – an early classroom goal is to create a safe forum for your students to express their feelings and questions. This prevents post traumatic stress disorder which our children throughout the country are susceptible to just from viewing the media images alone, no less from losses in their immediate or extended family and friendship systems.
Start with something counter-intuitive to Jewish educational norms but urged by mental health professionals: instead of immediately talking with them about tzedakah initiatives or teaching values and related texts, start by listening to your students.
We assembled a panel of mental health specialists to consult to CAJE and Jewish educators everywhere. On Page 3 you will find information for every Jewish educator to have right now.
Page 11 has a effective Jewish program modal, tested during 9/11, approved by a panel of mental health specialists for creating a safe forum for students/congregants to express their emotions and prayers, hopes and losses.
Page 14 shows how a congregation handled opening week of religious school in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Goal #3: Most students want to find ways to get help to the survivors – support their impulse and underscore the Jewish values they are manifesting.
Ready for action? Be sure you have direct on-the-ground contacts to survivors or social welfare staff known to you that approve help initiatives - just sending stuff assumed to be helpful wastes millions of dollars. Some Northern Jewish communities quickly funded and sent buses to New Orleans that returned empty, because most people wanted to stay in the region to look for missing relatives. Investigate initiatives closely, lest your students be disappointed in the outcome.
UJC.org typically posts reliable information on how to help when disaster strike.
FEMA.gov is the official Federal Emergency Management Administration information website. State Attorneys General throughout the United States are warning people of possible scams posing as charitable programs. Please give wisely. Some tips mentioned for avoiding fraud include:
-- Know how to spot fraud, telemarketers who play on emotions, refuse to answer questions, or offer to pick up your donation or press for a credit card number are usually not legitimate. Report suspected fraud.
-- Contact the charities directly; don't respond to appeals over the phone or via e-mail. Identity thieves are already sending "phishing" e-mails claiming to be from the American Red Cross and many other organizations.
-- Ask where your money will go and how it will help. To get more-detailed information about a charity, contact the Secretary of State's Office, check the charity's financial statement at www.guidestar.org or check if it meets Better Business Bureau standards at www.give.org.
-- Choose charities with a proven track record.
Goal #4: Reveal Judaism’s wisdom, liturgy and skills about how to be resilient in challenging times.
Young people are at risk in part because they don't yet have a perspective on how life is full of challenges as well as joyful times. Meaning-making mentoring will help them move through troubling times and emerge believing they can have and contribute to a better future. The spirits of your adult students are also intensely sore at this time as well, they will connect with gratitude to religious schools and communities that provide both tzedakah opportunities and a forum for spiritual and emotional support and expression.
Psychological Orientation & Resources
Bottom Line: As soon as you realize a student is traumatized by recent events, refer for counseling.
Guidance from Barry Bub, MD author of Communication Skills that Heal (Radcliffe Medical Press, 2005)
"The psychological effects of a major national trauma are not limited to those who experience it directly and the degree of response is not predicted simply by objective measures of exposure to or loss from the trauma." (Nationwide Longitudinal Study of Psychological Responses to September 11 Silver R et al JAMA, September 11, 2002-Vol 288, No 10)
•In this day and age of terrorism and high population densities in areas vulnerable to natural disaster, leaders in the community - teachers, clergy, healthcare professionals, etc, need ongoing training in preventing and managing the psychological and spiritual effects of severe trauma.
•Even in the absence of major natural disaster, accident or terrorism this training is valuable since the commonest cause of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in society occurs after the sudden unexpected death of a loved one and also after events that are not uncommon such as suicide, auto accident, criminal violence etc.
•Children are particularly vulnerable so teachers can play a valuable role in detecting troubled children, listening, creating safe connection and reporting.
•Even though individuals directly threatened by death or serious injury to themselves or loved ones are obviously at greater risk of developing acute stress reaction and PTSD post traumatic stress disorder), others who witness scenes of horror, devastation, death and destruction on TV may also be affected.
•Those with prior exposure to trauma may be more vulnerable to being triggered by present traumas.
•Self-care is of prime importance since to a greater or lesser extent, all who witness this catastrophe are victims. Teachers need to attend to their own spiritual and psychological and physical well-being if only to acknowledge and ventilate in an appropriate setting, their own feelings of fear, anger, cynicism, dismay etc. This way, their own emotions are less likely to interfere with their hearing those of the children.
•Children need to feel safe. As much as possible maintain normal routine in the classroom however, do not act as if the disaster never occurred. Create safe space for listening so that students can take their turns to express their feelings. Gather information e.g. "does anyone here have someone affected by the hurricane?"
•Appreciate that living through a traumatic experience such as this hurricane is very different to educating oneself and others about an event that occurred in the distant past e.g. the Holocaust. In the current situation, minimizing the amount of exposure to scenes and stories of trauma is appropriate.
•Reassure that it is normal to have a multitude of emotions after an event of this nature. Confusion, disorientation, anger etc is normal and that people say and do abnormal things in abnormal times.
•Respectful listening is the key. Dan Bloom psychotherapist says: "I touch by my listening." This is far safer and is more helpful than hugging.
•When challenged with the question, why would God cause this to happen, avoid giving trite answers. One approach may be to respond that we do not know; review texts such as Lamentations, Job, or Psalms that reveal that we have asked this question even in biblical times.
•The teacher may point out to the older children that suffering is not optional and the Jewish people in particular have a long history of suffering and learning how to respond to it in humane and caring ways. Explore texts that support this.
So that the students do not feel helpless, point out that we are given resources to take care of ourselves since there will always be hurricanes, volcanoes, earthquakes and these are necessary to keep the planet alive. Review common-sense steps such as keeping bottled water, batteries, radio etc.
Here is an article by Dr. Barry Bub on how to listen appropriately when someone is lamenting their situation, translate for yourself the term "teacher" or "helper" or "parent" or "loved one" or "early responder" or "mitzvah doer" when you read "physician" in the article.
Guidance from Yael Gott, chaplain
As a hospital and hospice chaplain, and bereavement counselor, I would recommend that children in Hebrew school have the opportunity to process their feelings. They and their families have been exposed to images and stories that are frightening and traumatic, and can shake the stability of their world. I think it would be ideal for a trained counselor, chaplain or rabbi to lead a discussion in the classroom, in which children could share their feelings in an atmosphere of support and safety.
Listen and validate.The children may disclose feelings of fear that this type of event could happen to them. They need to be heard and not to be discounted. It is tempting for an adult to respond to a child sharing his fears by "making him feel better," and saying that they need not worry, or his fears are unfounded for various reasons. This is not what the child needs. He needs to have the listener validate his fears in verbal and non-verbal language, such as: "It sounds like you're sad and afraid that something like this could happen here," with receptive body language, and an empathetic and serious expression. This allows the child to open up and share his/her feelings.
At that point, it is the role of the counselor to continue validating the child's feelings, while giving the child(ren) a helpful perspective. The teacher might offer: "This type of event is very rare, and when it happens everyone feels sad and afraid. What are some things we could do to help the people who have been affected?" At this point the child(ren) will contribute ideas that will help them feel less vulnerable, and help those in need.
It may not be wise at this time to reference similar stories from the Tanach, in this case, those pertaining to floods. Bible stories are frequently extreme, and may include destruction and fatalities. Keeping the discussion to the feelings of the children, and their suggestions for offering assistance may be the most empowering steps to take. Study of Bible stories with similar themes may be more sensitive in the future. The teacher should remain sensitive to the children's feelings, as they study stories touching on these themes. In the future, the children may retain some of their fear regarding certain stories. As these stories are introduced, the teacher should continue offering support, if the children comment that these stories remind them of these events. What these children have seen on television will have a lasting impression on them. If they continue to be disturbed by these events, parents and the principal should be consulted.
From David Nefesh, psychotherapist:
I would say that people and children simply need a space in which their feelings, reactions can be heard, validated, etc. I'd suggest mental health practitioners act as facilitators for groups of children and parents, in hearing them out, offering validation, education, etc. Parents and families need to be educated about the normal reactions to such extreme happenings: excessive worry, clinginess, fear, nightmares, depression over loss, concentration problems, etc.--so that their reactions can be "normalized" and their feelings "held" by others who would hear them out.
Helpful psychologically oriented websites that address how to work with youth in the event of a disaster:
http://pbskids.org/rogers/parentsteachers/special/scarynews.html
http://helping.apa.org/articles/article.php?id=107
Written for City of New York 9/11 Response Commission, by Rabbi Goldie Milgram
Meeting with your children in the wake of a major national trauma
Studies show that there is vicarious trauma to children watching TV images of disasters - natural and human made that are graphic and threaten personal safety. These awaken the fears and terrors of every child. Not to mention the failure of rapid response of the government, descent in anarchy in New Orleans, and the extreme power of nature is terrifying for adults. So what to do?
First self-care - then care for all. Attending to self-care first prevents despair, PTSD, acting out, and facilitates the flow of generosity and creative attention to the situation.
l) It is important for educators to issue parent advisories to the effect of not keeping the television playing the images around their children.
2) Create safe space for listen to the children’s fears/ideas/questions and be careful to not deny them their feelings.
3) Otherwise, keep daily routines happening as much as possible, this is comforting.
4) Speak about how you the [parent or educator] see the children's safety as top priority and that you will always do everything possible to keep them safe.
5) In religious school it is essential to have times to listening to the questions raised by the children - perhaps create a wall to post their questions - don't jump to answer them - let the time-of-questions-arising be it's own experience, emphasize that Judaism is a religion that encourages questions and questions of God.
6) Theological responses are tricky. So far one simple response to “Why would G*d make this happen?” is to say that the weather is out of the control of G*d - it is simply a system of the planet, but we can pray for strength to get help to those who are suffering and for help with our own fears.
7) While global warming may very well be making such storms worse because warmer waters yield fiercer hurricanes, this is not the time for waging guilt. Self-care, mourning, questioning come first - assigning responsibility can be done when folks are stable.
CAUTION: Skip empathy/re-enactment exercises you may find recommended in some curricula (like, if I had to leave my house in an emergency I would take....) right now that approach can create vicarious trauma and reinforce lack of safety. For sure hold foul weather/bomb threat readiness drills in your religious school if appropriate for your region - but not unless something is threatening to happen in the same month of a major publicized disaster, it will be too threatening for right now, and will counteract the good you can do.
8) Many religious schools and synagogues in North America will have members who are extended family of those affected in the disaster. These folks, too, will need caring, careful responses. Your staff will need guidance in how to be with distressed, traumatized family and students. Keep in mind the Talmudic aphorism: "All that is said in grief is to be forgiven."
Rather than physically embracing those suffering, which is often unappreciated unless solicited, touch with your listening and non-judgmental responses.
Anonymous advice from a recent Jewish Family Service professional:
When I was employed at Jewish Family Services, I was a member of the Critical Incident Response Team. We would go out into the community including Hebrew and Sunday Schools) during times of need. Some of these were in response to 9/11 (and on the first anniversary of 9/11), after the death of a student/teacher/parent, and also in response to the shooting in Los Angeles.
We would go in as a team of 2 people so that there was always more than one person available to both see and hear responses. In addition, when working with students it was better to have two people for a sense of "control" while in the group.
We always had a debriefing when we (the team) returned to the agency in order to help us process our own reactions. Furthermore, a report was written and kept on file. If we (the team) had anysignificant concerns about a particular person, we would report that to the principal after we debriefed and collected our thoughts and information. If there were no concerns, a general overview was provided so that we would not breach confidentiality of the participants. This is very important! The participants need to be made to feel comfortable enough to share and know that, unless there is some danger involved, what they shared will not be told to others (parents, teachers, etc).
Critical Incident Stress Response related to Children 9-04-05 - Excerpted fromJewish Family Services Critical Incident Response Team material,JFS Baltimore, MD, 2004.
The mission of the Crisis team is to provide defusings and debriefings in crises. Defusing is a quick intervention before those involved leave the scene (usually of one hour or less). It may or may not be a formal group.
Goals of Defusing
- to help understand the normal responses to stress
- to know what to do if with abnormal responses
- to identify those who may be at risk
- to provide an opportunity to talk about feelings
- to give some do’s and don’ts for coping.
Debriefingis usually done within 3 days. It is always done in a group.
Goals of debriefing:
- to work through what happened
- to let go
- to provide education about stress response
- to identify warning signs of PTSD
- to provide information on accessing further help.
For those in the midst of the disaster, there is much written about defusing and debriefing as it pertains to crisis intervention. Some articles (and brief explanations) are provided here. For a more in-depth explanation of steps please consult these resources or consult with your local AJFCA/JFS:
Lee Ross, PhDof Frostburg State University provides information fromJames L. Clements, 1992,about 7 phases for a debriefing group. He says that it works best when people have experienced an upsetting, critical event or occurrence. People often have normal post-traumatic stress type symptoms after such an event. Remember that not everyone will experience a critical incident in the same manner. The following is a general framework – there are professionals and teams who have had training to do this type of work.
1 – Introduction
2 – Facts – great care must be taken for this phase. The debriefer facilitates the normalization of symptoms. There is much focus on the “facts” of the events – what happened from every person’s perspective.
3- Thoughts – again, great care is taken because one does not want to force a participant to reveal their thoughts/emotions. It involves asking people about what they were thinking as they sawX event happening.
4 – Reactions – During this phase members are encouraged to speak about their own selves versus how they saw others react. This is a part of the normalization process when several members might acknowledge similar emotions about the incident.
5 – Symptoms – Discussion of physiological, emotional, and other symptoms which occurred immediately following and up to this group meeting are discussed. Most of the time it will involve classical PTS symptoms and the mental health worker should be familiar with these. The goal is to elicit common symptoms and normalize those reactions that are truly normal.
6 – Teaching – Providing information about normal reactions, including the physiological model of stress reactions. It is reinforced that their reactions are normal reactions to an abnormal situation. Information is given about ways in which participants can handle their symptoms. Emphasis is placed on the fact that these methods do work. Dependent upon the age of the participant, they can be asked about times when they were successful in handling stressors and what helped them to do so. Support systems are good. Participants are reminded of resources available to them should they still experience symptoms after a few days to weeks (dependent upon the person).
7 – Re-entry – Time is taken to summarize that the incident was significant, a variety of feelings and symptoms resulted, they are normal, and they can get better.
- Jeffrey T. Mitchell, PhD – article in jems,December 1988,Stress: Development and Functions of a Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Team. He also provides information about the 7 phases for these teams to cover, stating that this is a specialized area of training for health care personnel. Much education is provided to those who have experienced a potentially traumatic event. Again, not everyone reacts in the same way to what they see/hear.
- Association of Jewish Family & Children’s Agencies offers guidelines for“Helping Children to Cope with Crises”. This was prepared byRobert Abramovitz, M.D., Chief Psychiatrist of Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services. ajfca.org.
Dr. Abramovitz states that responses to crises need to be divided into three categories: psychological safety; physical safety; and re-assurance/explanation. He says that the primary goal is to prevent frightening feelings from becoming overwhelming. Dr. Abramovitz talks about giving children a message of “how can I help you feel safe, in spite of having distressing feelings?”
Thus, there is an attempt to promote the capacity to adaptively manage emotional reactions so that they don’t disrupt the ability to think and respond. It is necessary to validate children’s reactions. Children need to be heard. Dependent upon their developmental stage, they can talk or “play out” their feelings. We as adults need to listen, listen, listen. Our presence is important.
FromRon Lewis, specialist in adolescent behavior and treatment, marriage and family therapist. Something very simple, used by many teachers that helps when a teacher, student or parent is overwhelmed and yet really needs to be able to be fully present. One doesn't have to believe in this, simply doing it will work in the majority of individuals. Fingers are connected with emotions; we all know that when babies are agitated they suck their thumbs. Simply hold the indicated finger from the list that follows, after a while the person will be able to feel the pulse, when the pulse is detected by the affected person they will already be better grounded and their inner energies in better harmony. Remember, first when you hold it with two fingers from the opposite hand, you won't feel the pulse, gradually pulse comes in as energy balances.
-Ring finger is connected with grief, depression, sadness.
-Middle finger with anger (physiologically and culturally :)
-Index finger is connected with fear.
-Little finger with self-esteem.
-Thumb with agitation.
Recommended Activities
With a little planning the following activities can be appropriate for all ages:
•Make Caring Cards to send.
•Make a collection and send the money to a helping resource your students choose from a careful review of options.
•Have the Hebrew school children join together in a misheberach prayer for those affected.
•Each write a prayer to be made into a scroll and read aloud in the sanctuary during tefillah.
•Study weather and theology and looking into the science of global warming and connecting to the mitzvot is a unit to consider for later in the year - after shock, grief, and loss can come knowledge and action.
•Study the responsibilities of leaders for the people, hold mock trials about budget decisions that left New Orleans vulnerable, and send class delegates or meet as a group with legislative representatives will help create the leaders of the Jewish future. [Brought too quickly, finger-pointing and assignment of collective guilt breeds emotional damage, resistance to needed change and slows recovery.]
•Learn some of Lamentations - Eichah. In the book, Reclaiming Judaism as a Spiritual Practice, (Milgram) there is a guide to the essential mental health function of lamenting along with an exercise on how to go from the powerful lament of Eichah to understanding the universality of human lament and expressing one's own lament. Here is a link to using Eichah for students to express their feelings in the form of a traditional lament. Because religious schools start after Tisha B'Av, this is a special opportunity to embrace the human lament within this hurricane and slowness of governmental response to tragedy and recall how our people have moved often from tragedy to rebuilding and good lives. We, of all people, know how to do this and that it is a spiritual process.
•Use Psalms of David when he was desperate and frightened, e.g., psalm 38. Help children understand that life is like a sine wave (or like a wheel) - that times get rough and painful and that things improve. They don't intellectually realize it and it's very helpful to have perspective right now. You can say: "Look how the very powerful and successful King David wrote psalms about his most frightening and painful times". It is as holy to lament as it is to praise.
Psalm 42 (interestingly attributed as for the leader, the maskil of the sons of Korach), actually includes the phrase eleh ezkerah, “these do I remember” and allows for bridging the high holidays and lamenting of losses:
For food I have had my tears, day and night.
All day they say to me "Where is your God?"
These things I remember and pour out my soul within me."....
•Conduct a bibliodrama drawn from the biblical text where Hagar has been sent away by Avraham. She sets down her son under a shrub, moves a bowshot away, lifts up her voice, weeps and hears a bat kol [voice from Beyond] and comes back to herself and the promise. Help students find the prayer of their hearts, to value calling out to God during times of distress.
•Hold a community ritual. Holding a ritual gathering for the school or in each classroom where students can do something like the following, was found during 911 in New York, to help a lot: (even better, when possible, hold this with parents forming a circle around the children, a circle of safety.) [Ritual developed and conducted by Rabbi Goldie Milgram for various neighborhoods and synagogue communities during 9/11 crisis.]
1. Opening song. Nachman's Narrow Bridge works, only amended to be something like this:
All of the world is a very narrow bridge; and the main thing, the main thing is we all care, we won't let each other fall.... Let students and staff (and families if present) chant and move in a circle.
Some find it helpful not to use the original lyric: the main thing is not to fear at all. Why? Disenfranchising emotions is very damaging to people, embrace emotions and respect them; for a youth to feel afraid after seeing the images of people on rooftops, etc. is healthy and normal. However, when one is in the water and on the rooftop, the original lyric seems right on to help keep equanimity.
2. Next: In the center of the circle have two crystal or pottery water containers - at least large salad bowl size. Place water in the bowl - water is hessed in Judaism, the presence of God as loving-kindness and abundance. Invite students to come up and sprinkle some kosher salt into one bowl - this is a symbolic Well of Tears. When they do this, each says their feelings, concerns or connections to the situation:
Example: I am very sad today. My grandmother's house was swept away in New Orleans. We know she is safe in Texas. She is worried about her neighbors and friends.
Example: I am scared today. We live near a lake in California, should we move? I never realized water could be so strong.
Example: I am relieved today, my cousin was rescued by a man who saw her in the water and carried her to safety on his shoulders.
3. Part of being a religious and educational community is caring about the mental health of our students. When the students are done, a teacher or principal active listens by summarizing:
"Together we are sad, scared........ and we are also together. We are safe here in (chicago, etc.) and we here at Temple Beth ....have each other."
4. Now, another round of the Nachman song, or something like it, let the tempo get more upbeat - moderate - bring energy into the room.
5. The other bowl of water symbolizes a Well of Hope.
"Our ancestors felt the presence of God beside the wells they dug in the wilderness. Here we express our hopes, our prayers for all who are suffering from this terrible disaster; "
6. Students come up and sprinkle silver glitter onto the surface of the water and express hopes:
Example: "I hope (or pray) every possible person is rescued."
Example: "I hope every child who has no family left will be adopted by wonderful new parents."
Example: "I hope new inventions will come that make more people safe from floods."
7. Now, chant once again, building up energy of hope and strength and resilience, not so fast it gets silly, but fast that is strong and lifts the souls of those doing so up.
Now, give the students a recess so they can regroup internally. White space is essential after a ritual, lets the nutrients work on the soulstream.
Maggid (Storytelling) Moments.
One of the beautiful stories from working 9/11 in NYC was the shoe store owner who handed out sneakers to women in high heels who were fleeing the falling buildings. He stayed there just dolling out his stock while the dust and debris began to swirl. These kinds of stories of the power and beauty of a human soul to help others are important to share now. Assign students to collect them regarding the current tragedy and put them up on the bulletin board beside quotes about the Jewish values these courageous acts reflect. Then create perhaps a play or a maggid-training with a professional story-teller so that the students can learn and internalize creative ways people help people in times of distress.
•Introduce the idea of a kavannah for doing a mitzvah.
"The mitzvot you choose do to, do they seem to have your name on them? Do you feel called, perhaps tugged? Sometimes do you go past the opportunity to do a mitzvah and then return to it? Creating your own focusing phrase, or drawing upon traditional ones, before doing certain mitzvot can help you plug into the Greater Pool of Possibility and Abundance within which we dwell. Such a meditation is called a kah-vah-nah, “intention” and often begins with a response to the call: hareini, or hineini, “here I am,” This is the answer given by those who felt called by G*d in the Torah, after hearing their names called twice. The basic model is very simple, put in your mind the mitzvah upon which you are about to embark and whisper:
Hineini, here I am, present in this moment, I consciously choose to do the mitzvah of . . . supporting someone in need......as you write a check, offer a meal, give shelter, etc. . . .watching over my body as sacred space...as you take in nutrition, use protection, etc. . . .experiencing the holiness of time...as you make Shabbat, begin a holy day, etc. Hin’ni mukhan[a] u'v'zuman[et] l'kayem et mitzvat borai....Here I am ready and invited to effect My Creator's mitzvah of ......."
From Meaning and Mitzvah: Daily Practices for Reclaiming Judaism through God, Prayer, Torah, Mitzvot, Hebrew & Peoplehood by Rabbi Goldie Milgram (Jewish Lights, 2005).
•Study rather than rote recite specific psalms, liturgy and prophetic texts in religious school - why? Reciting isn't learning, or really even praying, because one hasn't yet integrated the meaning/thoughts.
a. Try hevruta, partner study, of a poem-response (see further down) - it can be a powerful tool for students in upper grades and adults. Hevruta builds friendships and is one of the best ways to create meaning in the classroom.
b. Have students find the Eleven Blessings that come to one who helps the hungry and wretched from the Isaiah piece found in the text section at the end of this document.
c. Psalms that describe King David in duress are powerfully expressive - help students realize even the greatest of our people's leaders had to overcome really hard days.
•Have the children identify ways to engage in a larger relief effort. Because of the magnitude of the disaster coordination of relief efforts is essential. Small, unique projects done by individual groups often cannot be effectively used and non-profit staffs lose time trying to be polite to volunteers pushing their individual ideas when the staffs really need to stay on task with the big picture.
•Organize both fund drives and blood drives, the shortages are already the most acute, some think, in the history of this country. Parents may find youth asking them to come into the religious school lobby to donate blood rather compelling. The children can participate by giving juice and sweets to donors, working appointment coordination (runners to fetch donors), etc.
•Disaster specialists are urging people not to send materials yet, but rather to donate money.
•After the refugees return, your school may want to adopt a school or affected community and ask what is needed (don't assume) and then work to help out. It might be months before that level of helping is likely to be possible - sustain momentum - keep your students interested and ready to engage. By week two after a disaster, more extensive tikkun olam brain storming could start, for example, were schools were wiped out? Even if tent schools are created, what will be done for books? Infinite things to do will emerge, but much gets wasted by leaping into projects too quickly before those in need are ready to engage and receive. For now, find large-scale nationally coordinated efforts to tap the caring energy of your students and families into.
•When you adopt a community have the children learn as much about it as they can. Find out all the ways that the adoptive community is just like the one that you live in. Then, find ways (other than the refugees) that it is different. How can the children provide assistance within both the areas of similarity and difference?
•Know that among the many nations who have offered help, Israel is already here helping out:
A group of ZAKA volunteers in the United States traveled to New Orleans in order to aid in body identification, and to help in the removal of bodies strewn in the city streets. The team is lead by Mr. Isaac Leider, ZAKA's coordinator in NYC, and will arrive in New Orleans, Sunday night.
The ZAKA team will be escorted by the National Guards throughout their stay. Zaka's US branch has coordinated the effort with the Chief of Louisiana Police, Colonel Henry Witthorn, and will operate under his command. Zaka has great experience in this area, with volunteers who have undergone rigorous training arriving on the scene minutes after any terror attack in Israel.
In the meantime, Yehuda Meshi Zahav, head of Zaka in Israel, has contacted the US ambassador to Israel, Dan Kurtzer, regarding the possibility of sending additional aid from Israel should the need arise. ZAKA Rescue and Recovery 1-877-ZAKA-911 www.zakausa.org
•Here's an example of how Temple Emanuel of Greensboro, NC responded to the Katrina disaster as submitted by Rabbi Andy Koren:
"The key thing that we did in response was to call a Sunday morning meeting (this past Sunday) which allowed for parents to interact with Rabbi Guttman and his wife Nancy who is a family therapist. We provided babysitting as we were expecting parents with younger children. Nancy spoke about a number of things including the impacts these events can have on kids. She stressed listening to kids and advised as to how to speak with them. Fred then spoke about this as an opportunity to explore Jewish responses and values. He presented a list of 9 items entitled “Meeting with your children in the wake of a major national trauma.” He supplemented by referring to a few articles as well as CAJE materials.
Rabbi Milgram’s 9/11 guidelines for parents were distributed and briefly discussed. Rabbi Fred summed up by teaching the final stanza of Adon Olam. “We place our soul in God’s trust, when we are sleeping and when we awake. Body together with soul, God is with me and I need not fear.”
I read aloud Rabbi Milgram’s suggestions re: gesher tzar me’od and not denying the emotion of fear, a concern which is most valid. Rabbi Guttman spoke about the other extreme which is the way that some American politicians and media outlets play on fear (as he was teaching, I couldn’t help but think of Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine).
Tomorrow night, we are meeting with our community high school (9-12 graders, Reform and Conservative). We will be doing a one-hour program which uses the Four Worlds as our framework. We will start with a presentation of the Four Worlds in Jewish thought. On the ‘physical’ level – we will hear from a few of the professionals from Jewish Family Services who will talk about how our community is responding and what teens can do to help. On the ‘emotional’ level – Nancy Guttman will lead a discussion centering on their feelings over the past week. On the ‘mental/intellectual’ level – Fred will do a text exploration on theodicy and where God is at times like these. Finally, on the ‘soul’ level, we will do a service with prayers for those affected by the Hurricane – likely using Carlebach’s “Shalom” tune to take us through it.
CONCEPTS AND VOCABULARY
TZEDAKAH: Tzedakah is not charity, "but has come to mean the obligation to see to the needs of fellow human beings who are unable to meet their own needs." Tzedakah is obligatory for every Jewish person, no matter how young or old, no matter how rich or poor. It is a mitzvah to give Tzedakah.
MITZVAH: A Commandment. It is by doing Mitzvot that we help the world to become a better place.
TIKUN OLAM: To repair (fix) the world. Each of us is responsible to help perfect the world, which was created incompletely to enable humankind to contribute to ongoing creation.
KESHER: Connection. Every Jewish man, woman, and child has a connection to each other. When harm comes to another, it is your responsibility (obligation) as a Jew to help with that person's needs.
KLAL YISRAEL: Community (congregation) of Israel. "There is an old Hebrew saying: All Jews are responsible for one another. Being part of the Jewish community is like being a member of one very large family."
GEMILUT CHASADIM - Acts of lovingkindness. Involves our time and personal connectedness, actions, and commitment to our community.
Textual Sources
1. "And you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself." (Leviticus 19:18)
2. "All Jews are responsible for one another." (Talmud Shavuot 39a)
3. Rabbi Akiva said: . . . "Do mitzvah through me; the benefit will be that we will live, and you will live a long life." (Mechilta, Ki Taytzay 2)
4. Rabbi Assi said, "Tzedakah outweighs all other commandments together." (Talmud Baba Batra 9a)
5. "There is no greater or more glorious joy than to bring happiness to the hearts of the poor, orphans, widows and strangers, One who brings joy to the hearts of these disadvantaged individuals resembles G-d." (Mishnah Torah, Laws of Megillah 2:17)
6. “Tzedakah demands the utmost care and diligence, for it may save a life." (Tur Yore ‘Deah #247)
7. “Simon the Just used to say, ‘The world rests on three things: Upon the Torah, worship and the practice of Tzedakah.’" (Mishnah Avot 1:2)
8. "If a person is hungry, the person should be fed. If the person needs clothes, the person should be given clothes. If the person has no household furniture or utensils, furniture and utensils should be provided. . . . (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 250.1)
9. “Hillel said, ‘Do not separate yourself from the congregation.’" (Pirke Avot 2)
10. "They that turn the many to righteousness (tzedakah) shall shine like the brightness of the skies." (Daniel 12:3)
11. "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?" (Hillel)
12. Upon the observance of the power of the storm and confirmation that G-d is the Creator – of all- what is perceived by us as good and what is perceived by as bad:
“The voice of HaShem is upon the waters, the G-d of Glory thunders, HaShem is upon the vast waters. The voice of HaShem is in power! The voice of HaShem is in majesty! The voice of HaShem breaks the cedars, HaShem shatters the cedars of Lebanon.…The voice of HaShem cleaves with shafts of fire. The voice of HaShem convulses the wilderness.…HaShem sat enthroned at the Deluge; HaShem sits enthroned as the King forever. HaShem will give might to His people, HaShem will bless His people with peace.”
---Psalm 29, a psalm of David. As translated in Artscroll Siddur Kol Yaakov.
13. On having the fortunate ability to drive out of New Orleans:
“[The One] who grants salvation to kings and dominion to rulers, Whose kingdom is a kingdom spanning all eternities; Who releases David, His servant, from the evil sword; Who places a road in the sea and a path in the mighty waters.”
---Prayer for the Welfare of the Government, Artscroll Siddur Kol Yakov, Pg. 451
“I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void;
And the Heavens, and they had no light.
I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled.
And the hills moved to and fro.
I beheld, and, lo, there was no [hu]man,
And all the birds of the heavens were fled.
I beheld and, lo, the fruitful field was a wilderness,
And all the cities thereof were broken down
At the presence of the Lord,
And before [God’s] fierce anger….
For thus says the Lord:
‘The whole land shall be desolate.’”
15. In response to law enforcement people’s apparent indifference to suffering and crime:
“…indifference to evil is more insidious than evil itself……silent acquiescence leads to evil being accepted and becoming the rule.” Abraham Joshua Heschel, “The Insecurity of Freedom”, pg. 92
16. Regarding the disregard for the long range potential for harm by not properly maintaining the storm walls and levees:
“Who is the wise person? The person who foresees the future consequences of his actions.” Tamid, 32a
17. On our obligation to repair what has been damaged or destroyed:
“…..every person must say, ‘the whole world was created for my sake’. Therefore, since the whole world was created for my sake, I must always be improving the world, fulfilling the needs of humanity and praying for its benefit.”--Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, Likkutei Moharan I, 5:1 as quoted from Dovid Sears, Compassion for Humanity (Jason Aronson)
18. On the response to crisis with Gemilut Hassadim:
“Noah’s most important offspring were his ‘good deeds.’” And
Rashi, in his commentary on Genesis 6:9, “These are the offspring of Noah: Noah was a righteous man…”
19. On the need to do positive action, not simply write a check and not consider the human elements:
“It is not sufficient merely to do mitzvot while acquiescing in unjust conditions”
R. Acha ben R. Chanina, Shabbat 55a, Tanchuma Tazria 9.
20. On facing the enormity of the job of rebuilding:
“You are not required to complete the task, but neither are you free to withdraw from beginning it.”
Rabbi Tarfon, Pirke Avot, Chaper 2, verse 21.
“The reward is in proportion to the exertion.” Ben Fei Hei, Pirke Avot 5:26
“All who exert themselves for the sake of the community
Should exert themselves for the sake of Heaven,
For the merit of the community’s ancestors aids them,
And their righteousness endures forever.”
22. On our need to act with deliberateness and timeliness to this crisis:
“He (Rabbi Hillel) used to say: If I am only for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, What am I? And if not now, When?” Pirke Avot, 1: 13
23. On the ability of prayer to help with crises:
“On the fourth of Iyar, I went to sea. On Sabbath, the tenth of Iyar in the year 4925, a heavy gale arose. The sea was turbulent, and we were in danger of drowning. I vowed to observe the tenth of Iyar in complete seclusion and to devote the day to prayer and study. On Sunday, the third of Sivan, I landed safely in Acre.”
Rambam, in a letter during his escape from Fez, as presented in Rambam, His Thoughts and His Times, by Brenda Bacon for the Melton Research Center
24. Seeking G-d through pain and joy
The bible gives no account of how Abraham came to recognize G-d; that decisive step in Jewish History is shrouded in silence. The Rabbis rush in with tales to fill the void.
One story compares Abraham to a traveler who sees a palace in flames. He cried out, ‘Is there no one responsible for this palace?’ From an upper window the owner peeked through to assure the frightened traveler that he is responsible. The palace had an owner.
Similarly, Abraham, seeing the world in flames, cried out, ‘Is no one responsible for this world?’ G-d came to Abraham in response to his cry.
The twist to this midrash is that the word if uses for ‘in flames’ is doleket. Doleket can also mean ‘full of light’. So perhaps Abraham saw the world as a blazing fire or as a brilliant light, as a caldron of injustice or as a palette of beauty. Did he think a terrible world must have a monarch – or so magnificent a world must have a creator?
Do we come to G-d for tragedy or from joy? The midrash suggests we come to G-d in response to both, as did our ancestor Abraham.”
David Wolpe, floating Takes Faith, page 52
25. On keeping the faith: While the Candle Burns
Despite the proliferation of therapies, self-help gurus, and how-to books, changing one’s life is an arduous business. We are not wired for upheaval; as the old adage has it, we change only on the edge of anxiety, when the old internal systems have crashed and there is little choice.
So it is a statement of faith that Judaism builds on the changeability of human beings. We are faithful to the possibility that a person can transform himself or herself not only by crisis but also by resolution. We hold that we can create a sort of crisis in the soul when we realize the brevity of life, the importance of the tasks we have been given, the power of love, and the majesty of the Divine. Much of Judaism is designed to help us to those realizations in the hope that we will turn them into change.
Rabbi Israel Salanter was once passing by the shop of a shoemaker and saw the man working late. He asked, ‘Why are you still working; the candle has almost gone out?’ The shoemaker answered, ‘Rabbi, as long as the candle burns, one can still do some mending.’ That became Rabbi Salanter’s motto: ‘As long as the candle of our soul still burns, we should not despair of change.’”
David Wolpe, Floating Takes Faith, pg. 168
26. After Katrina - Rabbi Leila Gal Berner
September 2, 2005/28 Av 5765
U-ma’avir yom u-meyvi laila u-mavdil beyn yom u-veyn laila, Adonai tz’va’ot shemo. . .
You make day pass away and bring on night, dividing between day and night. .. the Leader of the Throngs of Heaven is your name!
The harsh winds came and the rains came
and the waters surged in all their frightful force.
The Leader of the Throngs of Heaven is your name!
Night came —
And though the sun rose,
darkness lay heavy on the face
of the city . . .
Eicha yashva badad ha-ir rabati am. . .
Alas! How lonely sits the city once great with people!
You make day pass away and bring on night . . .
Where were You, our Leader of the Throngs,
in these frightful, terrifying days?
Where were You? Where are You?
Job’s voice cries out in the distance:
. . . Ani el Shaddai adaber — v’ho-hay-ach el Eyl echapetz
Indeed, I will speak to the Almighty; I insist on arguing with God . . .
Did YOU bring the winds and the rains and the rushing waters?
We insist on arguing with You!
Did YOU ravage and abandon us?
How lonely sit our cities and our towns and our villages!
Did YOU do all this?
Some of us believe that
Nature has its own awesome, awful,
magnificent and menacing
Free Will.
Some of us believe that even YOU,
the Leader of the Throngs of Heaven,
cannot thwart
Nature’s own Will,
Nature’s own inexorable Power.
And if this is so,
if Nature holds its own
Dominion,
What of You? What of You,
Leader of the Throngs of Heaven?
We cling, like refugees on rooftops
escaping the Deluge —
We cling to You nonetheless,
in spite of,
because of Nature,
We cling to You,
choosing in our own Free Will
To believe —
You are with us
in the days and in the nights,
in the winds and in the storms.
You are with us
in the crashing waters
and in the
levees cracking,
in the devastation
and in our homelessness.
Even as we argue with you,
even as we shake our fists at Heaven,
even as we witness the ugly faces
of humans like us —
even as we feel the upraised arms,
even as we watch the desperate grabbing
and the exploitation and the evil,
Even then,
We choose in our own Free Will
To believe —
You are with us
in the dark night and in the morning.
You are with us
as we witness the loving faces
of humans like us.
You are with us
as we watch the brave rescues,
as we feel the sweet giving
as we embrace the kindness,
as we welcome the healing
as we affirm the good.”
27. On seeing or hearing about looting:
It is told that the same robbers in the neighborhood of Rabbi Meir were causing him trouble. He prayed that they would die. Beruriah, his wife, said to him, "how do you make such a prayer?" Do not pray that the lives of sinners cease, but rather that their sins should be no more. For if their sins cease there will be no more wicked men. Pray for them and that they should do repent." He did so and they did repent. Mishna Berakhot 10a
When a person does teshuvah, even the evil impulse testifies in his[her] favor. [Zohar Chadash, Ruth 124]
The power of teshuvah is great, for as soon as a person contemplates doing teshuvah [s]he immediately ascends—not just ten miles, not even twenty miles…but a journey of five hundred years…to the highest heaven, until [s]he stands in front of the Kissei Hakavod, the heavenly throne. [Pesikta Rabati 44].
There is a remedy for every affliction in the world, and the remedy for the yetzer hara is teshuvah. [Midrash Tanchumah 58:1]
No earthling sins unless a spirit of madness enters into him. [Sotah 3a]
If one transgresses any of the commandments laid down in the Torah, of his own will and not under the stress of compulsion, but wantonly and in a spirit of provocation, he profances the Name of God…On the other hand, whoever abstains from a transgression or fulfills a precept, not from any personal motive, not induce by fear and apprehension or by the desire for honor, but solely for the sake of the Creater, blessed be He, as Joseph did when he resisted his master’s wife, sanctifies the Name of God. [M.T., Hilkhot Yesodei Hatorah 5:10]
28. On the slow government rescue response and inadequate evacuation plans:
"A community may do teshuvah at any time.” So long as the individual Jew identifies with the greater community of Israel, the universe is never closed and resistant to change. Society liberates the individual from the inexorable repetition of the past; the concept of tzibur, community guarantees an open future. The individual need not succumb psychologically to eternal recurrence so long as the community of which he is a part firmly believes in the power of teshuvah to alter even the sealed judgment of the Lord of history. ...community is a unit which liberates the individual to believe in the efficacy of teshuvah. The doctrine of teshuvah is a magna carta affirming the freedom to begin anew – to seize the opportunities for redirection and genuine change." [Hartman Institute Guide to Teshuvah]
29. Find here-in the eleven blessings that come to one who helps the poor and wretched.
Isaiah 58:6-14 translated by Rabbi Goldie Milgram
This is the fast I desire
To unlock the fetters of wickedness
Untie the cords of lawlessness
To let the oppressed go free
Break off every yoke;
It is to share your food with the wretched
and take the poor into your home;
When you see the naked, clothe them.
and do not ignore your own kin.
Then will your light burst through like the dawn
And your healing will spring up quickly
[When] your higher-self leads you
the weight of G*d is behind you.
So [now], when you call out, G*d will answer;
When you call out, G*d will say:
Hineini, here I am.
If you turn from your midst lawlessness,
finger pointing and wicked talk.
Respond with your soul to the hungry
Satiate the tortured soul
Then your light will shine in darkness
And your gloom shall be like noonday.
G*d is always your rest station,
Slaking your soul in drought
Giving resilience
You shall be like a watered garden
Like a spring whose waters do not fail
From within you rebuild eternally
Foundations for every generation you will rebuild
And they will call you
Repairer of breached walls
Restorer of civilized ways.
If you refrain from trampling Shabbat
[from] doing your desires on my holy day
Call Shabbat delight
So you make holy the weight [kavod]
of G*d [consciousness]
Honor it, don’t go your own way
Nor look to your business, nor strike bargains,
Then you can delight in G*d,
I’ll have you riding an earthly high
and nourish you with your
ancestor Jacob’s inheritance
Thus has G*d has spoken.
30. Thirty-Six Aphorisms of the Baal Shem:
http://www.chabad.org/library/
31. Testimony of a Hurricane Survivor: Hurricane Katrina and Us
Or- How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Storm by Sharon Frant Brooks
It was supposed to be a “long weekend” - Friday to Monday – that’s it. The Big Kat -Hurricane Katrina was just a kitten then, Category 1 off the Atlantic side coast of southern Florida. Not even a mention of it as a threat to the Gulf states. That all changed on Saturday. Too late for us as all flights out of New Orleans were cancelled by the time we heard. Airlines chose to fly their planes out empty and not put their “passengers at risk”. We considered all the options, spoke to our hotel management and followed their advice to remain in the hotel for the storm. It was not the hotel we planned to be in. When we arrived, our reservations were suddenly changed from the “W” to the “Windsor Court”. It was lovely and elegant, with original grand master paintings. Not what would have appeared as a hardy sort of structure. But, we were told, their windows were safety tested to 225 mph, and their location was slightly up hill from the W and the Loews. How fortuitous the change was. We would not know until much later how true that proved to be. Let me explain further, my husband is a quadriplegic in a power wheelchair. I am an Occupational Therapist and a Jewish educator
Prior to the storm, on Sunday, the hotel menu read “Hurricane Menu”. (I wanted that for a souvenir. ) The meal was lovely, fresh flowers on the table, classical music in the background. Ken says: “It’s like the dance band on the Titanic.” Sunday night, emergency announcements over the public address system. They would be handing out flashlights and we should fill our bathtubs with water. Monday- 5 AM- the public address system again. We should leave our rooms; go out into the hallway with our flashlights, drinking water, and bedding. The lights went out, the emergency generator only providing hallway lighting and public area lighting. We remained there until 10 the next morning, ultimately putting our things back in the room (except the flashlight) and using the single operational emergency elevator to go to the 2nd floor to see where the other guests who remained in the hotel were. Most were there in the same frame of mind. It is less scary with a group. We formed little groups of people, the groups changing memberships from time to time.
We got to know most of the hotel guests very well. David Wolf, the 40- something young man who brought his 100 year old great-aunt and her caregiver out of her condo to refuge at the hotel on higher ground. He could never have evacuated her in the short time allowed. Lisa Scher and her physician husband Cory, and their 16 year old son and golden retriever Maddie. Cory wrote out any prescriptions needed for chronically ill evacuees and filled them at his hospital pharmacy as long as he was able to do so. It felt like we knew them forever. He gave us the inside scoop on the conditions in Tulane Hospital, the shootings at Medivac helicopters, the looting of guns from Wal-Mart, and the commandeering of empty homes by refugees from the Superdome. Vinnie, the “other OT” with her Tulane student daughter, who was to start school that weekend, along with her husband and 17 year old son. (She has already called me since our mutual “escape” from the storm. Her daughter will be doing her first semester at Columbia, but will go to Tulane when the campus reopens in January.
It seems that the young evacuees from Tulane felt an unusual bonding – trial by water, so to speak). The other Tulane mom who taught all of the teens poker and organized a “Kid’s Poker Championship” for pretzels. Then there were the Hirsch’s from Brooklyn. An Orthodox Jewish couple there for vacation – and stranded like us by the airlines. The Restaurant manager gave her access to the kitchen to prepare kosher meals on disposable cookware for her diabetic husband and prepared bagged breakfasts of packaged cereal, milk and juice.
And the hotel staff, each looking out for all of us, especially for Ken, making sure his wheelchair battery was charged on the generator before the power was turned off, who took him through the “secret” staff elevator through the kitchen when the one emergency elevator stopped working, and the dining room manager, Fernando, who along with his wife, Lisa, drove us from New Orleans to Houston as part of the “Windsor Court Caravan” along with the 20 year old college student/server staff member, Daniel Turkowitz. (I assumed mother-ship role for him once we got to Houston, making sure he got tickets on a flight out to Kansas City and giving him my phone number to let me know if he had any problems.).
The Mayor, Ray Nagin, and the Governor indicated that all hotel guests were required to leave New Orleans immediately. However, no evacuation assistance was provided for this to happen. Some hotels simply sent their guests out with the vehicles they came in with, and did little to help those without transportation. Some hotels rented busses, but most of those did not get out until Friday. At the Windsor Court, however, it was personal with the staff and our tightly knit guest corps. Large drive boards were set up, like the kinds we used to have in College – Cars with destinations listed and how many extra seats they had, people without cars and where they were headed.
Anyone without a vehicle to leave or who could not carpool with others was brought to safety by the staff of the Windsor Court in their personal cars and none would accept any remuneration for doing so. Ken was carried into Fernando’s pick-up truck by a burly hotel security guard, and his power wheelchair bungie-corded down in the back of the truck. I was in the 4-wheel drive vehicle with Lisa and Daniel with all the tightly packed luggage around us. We first went to Baton Rouge and it was apparent that we would be unable to get out of there at all. Then, Lisa and Fernando decided to drive us all the way to Houston airport where we connected with a flight to Newark.
I knew I was shielded by the many blessings I received from my friends and family. First, by the very fact that we “accidentally” ended up at this hotel. Our hotel lost just 3 windows, and that from falling debris from the Doubletree roof next door. Next, that the lounge window I was sitting next to, being pummeled by branches in the wind shattered, but only the outer pane of a double pane window, the inner pane remained intact. Then, that we decided not to go to the “after storm walk” location I wanted to go to on Tuesday, the Riverwalk, because Ken did not want to deal with the trolley and train tracks, only to discover later that that was the very site of much of the looting and violence that occurred that day.
We saw a lot of destruction. We felt the pain of our newly encountered friends loss of home, property, vehicles, and possibly livelihoods. But we were truly spared so very much. We followed the advice of hotel staff we did not even know, to stay at the hotel, rather than that of friends and relatives - to get evacuated by the New Orleans police to a special needs shelter – which ended up being the Superdome. We were fed, afforded dignity and camaraderie. My daughter Heather manned the Brooks home switchboard and keeping our network informed and, ultimately, getting us our flights out of Houston (when we finally got there) to home!
And I am so thankful and happy, and feeling reaffirmed in my faith in G-d’s protection. Now that I am home, and safe, I watch the scenes of destruction so close to where we were. The block we did walk on that Tuesday morning, was the site of the warehouse fire and building collapse and police/robber shoot-out depicted so graphically on Fox News the day after we arrived home, across the street from the hotel, the W, the hotel we were originally to stay in.
It is actually quite strange, that the entire time I was in New Orleans I remained focused on keeping my husband calm, reminding him not to worry about things that had not happened and conserving his emotional strength to deal with what was happening. This, in turn, kept me calm as well. I also kept seeing the many small positive events generated by this crisis, how people can and do take care of each other. I kept seeing values lessons I could use in my life, in my work, and in my outlook on life. It was, as my dog trainer taught me when dealing with my dog’s misdeeds, not to be seen as negative experience, but as an “opportunity for correction”.
Perhaps my friend and colleague, Raphael Stahl of Lakewood, NJ said it best: “It only goes to show that even here, even in a country as powerful as America, we are still subject to the will of HaShem.” And to that, I say a “Shechecheyanu”.
32. Surviving a Hurricane - from a member of the Jewish Book Publishing Listserve:
Miracle: The True Story of the Wreck of the Sea Venture, by Gail Karworski
This nonfiction narrative was a Junior Library Guild selection, so you may have already seen it. It is the amazing story of a historic hurricane that caused a shipwreck, founded a country, and changed American/World history as well as literature!
For a curricular tie-in, you might want to go to my website: In the "school visits" page, click on "lesson plans" and you will find a sort of scavenger hunt for students that takes them to some really cool internet sites on the subject of hurricanes: www.gailkarwoski.com.
33. In the Arms of Words: Poems for Disaster Relief.
This anthology of poetry includes the work of over 80 poets (many world renowned) from around the world and is edited by Amy Ouzoonian, who is also the editor of A Gathering of the Tribes magazine and author of a collection of poetry “Your Pill” (FootHills Publishing 2005). Contributors such as Diane di Prima, Nick Carbo, Marge Piercy, Sparrow, Thaddeus Rutkowski, Ellen Bass, Brett Axel, Bob Holman and Diane Ackerman have made this collection exceptional in both content and cause. Proceeds from sales of “In the Arms of Words: Poems for Disaster Relief” will be donated to AmeriCares and will provide aid to the survivors of the tsunami of December 2004 as well as the survivors of hurricane Katrina. Contact amy@locknloadpublishing.com-(
33. Writing Lamentations: When Life Gives You Grief
From Reclaiming Judaism as a Spiritual Practice: Holy Days and Shabbat, by Rabbi Goldie Milgram. Jewish Lights 2004.
The Hebrew title of the book Lamentations is Eichah, which means “How.” It derives from the first line of the text, “How lonely are we. . .” To lament means to mourn or wail. Take up a copy of Lamentations, look at the words with a friend, go line by line and see how the verses apply to you in your life. What is your lament?
Lamentations is a sacred text.
Your laments are also holy.
Lamenting is part of the initial process
of healing from a wounding.
Sometimes this can become a stuck place,
a tape playing over and over.
A lament must be
heard, honored, and looked into
to see what you need.
When a lament moves on to become
part of your sacred history,
no longer the foreground of your daily life,
then healing has begun.
Laments are often mishandled. A nursing home resident laments: “I had a beautiful home, my children sold it. Now I live in a small room, the meals here do not taste right.” Too often the response is: “You are so lucky to be here, this is an excellent facility, you couldn’t live on your own anymore.” To respect a lament is to respond: “How sad you sound to have given up your home and so much of your independence. I can imagine that you miss the familiar taste of foods you preferred and there are many other things you probably miss too.” If heard and respected, the pattern of the lament does not have to be repeated. Tears may be shed and gradually curiosity about being in a new place with different advantages has room to emerge.
This, too, is the function of Lamentations on Tisha b’Av, for the pain of the ancestors to be heard and honored, the hard lessons understood, and then to move on with renewed vigor and determination for living.
The next text is a recasting of Lamentations by a Christian seminarian in reaction to Hurricane Katrina and the politics that resulted in inadequate levees and slow government rescue efforts. Let your Jewish students - adult and youth try their own hand at adapting many or even just the first verse of Lamentations - the catharsis and awareness that arise are important forms of meaning-making through sacred text.
34. Example: Lament of Clyde Fant, Stetson University
How like a widow sits the city once so beautiful!
She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks,
Because there is none to comfort her.
She stretched forth her hands, but none came to her;
They heard how she was groaning, but none came unto her.
In her streets the flood bereaves;
In the sodden houses it is like death.
The leaders and elders of the city have fled, but the poor are trapped
within her levees.
Her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
Those who promised to help are worse than her enemies.
When she cried aloud, none came;
Smooth words promised much,
But they were empty rhetoric, wells without water, phantom bread.
Shame! Shame upon us all.
Who would have believed it!
She who sang even when she mourned,
The people who danced even in their want--
Now they are dying.
Their colorful robes are stained with mud;
They are gray, all gray, the pallor of the dead.
Weep, weep for the great city!
Orators of platitudes, politicians of promises, it is you who betrayed her!
You took from her, her safety;
you neglected her when she reached out to you.
You channeled her rivers and harnessed her waters--but for yourselves! For the profits of your friends!
You caused her marshes to dry and her wilderness to recede;
you brought the might of the waves and the winds to her very doors.
The poor, those who dwelt in the lowest places, who lived in miserable
shanties of wood, termite-ridden and forlorn,
Where none but the hopeless would dwell:
You have murdered them, and their corpses drift in the brackish floods,
But their cries have gone up to God!
Woe to you, Republicans!
For you pumped wealth from their lands
and sent their sons to die in your wars,
But they are as nothing to you.
"Who is my neighbor?"
You do not know yet the answer to this ancient
question.
Your only neighbors are your friends in the country clubs
or the "good old boys" in the redneck bars.
Your grandfathers set the slaves free,
and you return them to a worse
bondage of perpetual poverty!
Your fathers segregated them, but you ghettoize them;
Then you redistrict them to take away the few voices they have,
But God will cause the ruined city to cry on their behalf!
Shame! Shame for your hypocritical use of my name to lure the unwary.
Woe to you also, Democrats!
You were the fathers of slavery, first sons of the South!
You damned the poor to generations of ignorance and want.
Your fathers segregated them,
and you promised to bring them into your family.
But where were you when they needed you?
For you lack the courage of your convictions!
You curry the favor of the
enemies of your own people!
You have become impotent by your timidity.
You endorsed the wars.
You approved the miserable crumbs for education and employment.
You courted the indifferent, smug suburbs--may you live among them
eternally, bored forever by their white sameness!
Shame! Shame for your graft in the statehouses,
Your selfishness that has turned your people from you in disgust.
Woe to you Christians who pride yourselves in the name Conservative,
Who call all generous spirits and inclusive hearts liberals,
Who see wars as strength and peace as weakness!
The Prince of Peace rebukes you!
Woe to you also, Liberal Christians!
You scorn the common
and cause the simple to feel inferior in your midst.
Your hearts are ever open, but your pocketbooks are always closed!
He who lived among the poor rebukes you!
Woe to you, television preachers and mega-church pastors!
False prophets!
You deceive the people with your bleats of piety
while you endorse wars and
favor your rich benefactors.
Your prophecies of end times have come true—
in your own generation!
Look upon the city! Look upon hell on earth!
See what your leaders have wrought, the shame of the earth!
All mock us and call us fools,
We who send armies across oceans
but cannot cross the Mississippi to help our own!
Shame, shame upon you!
I hate, I despise your solemn assemblies,
The self-hypnotic repetitions of your pagan praise-
hymns are a scandal in my ears.
Come before me no more lifting up unholy hands,
Do not use my name to grow your personal kingdoms,
Or to bless your political ambitions.
What do think I desire? Barrels of oil from Iraq?
Herds of sacred cows from Texas?
Go now and learn what this means:
I desire mercy and not sacrifice,
Loving-kindness, not benign neglect.
Weep, weep for my city,
For my people,
For my children.
For they are dead.
How Does The Process of Body-Focusing Happen in Children?
http://www.focusing.org/
Our Internal Weather
http://www.focusing.org/
http://www.focusing.org/chfc/
http://www.focusing.org/chfc/
36. Caring for the Stranger
Religious and secular, gastronomic Jews, social activist Jews, artistic Jews, Jewish intellectuals, and more, we rarely agree collectively about the meaning of a verse in Torah, guidelines for a service that we could all attend, or how best for Israel to survive and thrive as an ethical nation. Ah – well, we rarely agree on much that applies to us. But,
When it comes to working for
social welfare, human rights, the environment,
medical advances, education, libraries, and more,
Jews are involved in proportions far larger
than our percentage of the general population.
Why? Because we practice
collective memory and
collective consciousness.
We are not just random individuals.
We are all the souls
who were strangers in Egypt.
We are all the souls who stood at Sinai
and committed to a radical
new code for humane living.
Being religious or born into a Jewish family is not a pre-requisite for being or becoming a member of the Jewish people. Perhaps one explanation for the wave of Europeans currently seeking to become Jewish is, as one woman described it to me:
“There were not enough Jews left to give birth to all the returning Jewish souls after World II. All of my life I have been drawn to Jewish people and Jewish practices. Your people are my people and I have begun studies to formally become a Jew.”
The mystical aside, however, the Jewish people was originally forged out of an eyrev rav, a “mixed multitude.” [Exodus 12:38] We arose from peoples indigenous to the Middle East who entered Egypt as guest workers when there was a widespread famine in the region and became enslaved over subsequent generations. Those who successfully fled and achieved freedom around 1280 BCE.--the descendents of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and others--became a new, amalgamated people, b’nei yisrael – the “children of Israel.” Jacob, the last of the founding patriarchs, received Israel as his sacred name. This new group formed of his likely descendents and others then became known as Israelites, the inheritors of his wisdom lineage, bound by radical, new, common accords that have come to us today in the form of the biblical commandments and the laws described in the bible as having been given to Moses at Sinai.
The descendents of the Israelites and all who have formally joined us since comprise the Jewish people.
We Were Strangers
As one of our peoplehood practices we hold ourselves responsible for caring for strangers. Thirty-six times the Torah mentions the mitzvah, the “sacred obligation,” to care for others as a way of remembering our own people’s experience. Let’s look at just a few of those verses:
"You shall not abuse or oppress a stranger, for you were strangers in Egypt." Exodus 22:20
"Do not oppress a stranger. You know the soul of the stranger for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." Exodus 23:9
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” Leviticus 19:19
"You shall love the stranger because you were strangers in the land of Egypt." Deut. 10:19
“‘Love your neighbor as yourself’, this is the fundamental principle of Torah.” Torah Kohanim, Rabbi Akiva
With a cluster of friends [or your students], compare and contrast these verses. The subtle addition of a word or a shift in phrasing are spiritual portals.
What do you notice as you compare the verses that might inform the way a Jew acts in the world as a representative of our people? If you would like to receive hevruta method guidelines that work in a religious school setting with adults or youth, email.
Notice in particular the verse “you know the soul of the stranger.” Do you? Do we? How might this awareness translate into action?
In every generation Jews are moving through the world as strangers, hopefully seeking safe and productive havens. How would you say the awareness of being strangers has shaped the identity and spiritual path of our people?
When Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel joined the freedom march led by Reverend Martin Luther King, Rabbi Heschel later identified this as fulfilling the mitzvah of zeyher y’tziyat mitzrayim, “remembering leaving
Egypt.” In your study circle, share stories about times when you have
fulfilled this mitzvah and brainstorm ways to bring it to life in your life.
As we have survived in a hostile world, the Jewish people has evolved, adapted, and grown into fresh approaches to living so powerful that they are often ahead of their time. In the words of Calvin Coolidge: “Every inheritance of the Jewish people, every teaching of their secular history and religious experience, draws them powerfully to the side of charity, liberty, and progress.”"
[from Meaning and Mitzvah: Daily Practices for Reclaiming Judaism through God, Prayer, Torah, Mitzvot, Hebrew and Peoplehood, by Rabbi Goldie Milgram, Jewish Lights Publishing, August 2005.]
May we all be blessed to attain tzaddik consciousness during this disaster - to attain our “highest selves.”
Comments and additions for this CAJE Rapid Response Curriculum are invited! Developed in partnership with ReclaimingJudaism.org.
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