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Thursday October 30, 2003

Firestorm: Jewish community comes to aid of S.California victims

Jewish community comes to aid of S.California victims

by donald h. harrison and tom tugend special to j.

san diego | The sculpture garden at the Chabad center north of San Diego used to depict different aspects of the Jewish experience. Now it is a pile of melted slag caused by the inferno that swept through the area this week.

Tefillin, art objects and special keepsakes of the congregants were destroyed along with the temporary campus of the Chabad headquarters.

But Rabbi Yosef Fradkin said notwithstanding the property losses, there was much to be thankful for. Chabad’s new campus, located on higher ground on the same Scripps Ranch property, was relatively unscathed.

As of Wednesday, at least 18 people had been killed by the region’s 10 major wildfires. San Bernardino and San Diego counties have been hardest hit, accounting for most of the 1,800 homes destroyed.

By phone, e-mail and word-of-mouth, the bad news kept piling up at Congregation Emanu El in San Bernardino.

The homes of six member families had been burned to the ground in the devastating wildfires sweeping across Southern California. Another 30 to 40 families from the congregation had been forced to evacuate their homes, and no one knew the whereabouts of eight other families.

Rabbi Douglas Kohn, spiritual leader at the Reform congregation, was at the point of utter exhaustion.

“I haven’t slept more than 10 hours since Shabbat,” he said Monday evening.

“I can see the tall flames from my study,” he said. “Embers, soot and ashes are falling on the synagogue and we can’t use the air conditioning. We have evacuated our Torah scrolls and original Marc Chagall paintings. One of our members, an officer in the fire department, is on the fireline, and our Jewish police chief is also in action.

“Everyone of our 420 families is out helping others. Everyone is concerned about everyone else,” Kohn said.

Emanu El is the only synagogue in San Bernardino, a city of 185,000 people some 60 miles east of Los Angeles. The synagogue is also is believed to be the oldest in Southern California, in continuous operation since 1851.

But it seemed that losses and suffering were almost everywhere in the region. Synagogues closed their doors and rushed their Torahs and other sacred objects to safe places as fires threatened. A number reported that congregants were left homeless.

In Simi Valley, the Mount Sinai Memorial Park cemetery reported minor damage to buildings and more extensive burning of trees and park areas.

In the San Gabriel Valley, four employees of the region’s Jewish federation reported that their homes had been entirely or partially destroyed.

Meanwhile, Jewish communities across the state rallied to aid the homeless and other victims of the fires.

Some 11 Chabad centers in Southern California turned themselves into relief and counseling centers, providing clothing, furniture and food.

The Board of Rabbis of Southern California called on all member congregations to provide assistance, according to the board’s executive vice president, Rabbi Mark Diamond, formerly of Temple Beth Abraham in Oakland.

There were numerous stories of Jews coming to the aid of fire victims of all religions and ethnicities. Rabbi Rafael Goldstein, the community chaplain, spent many hours counseling people at one of the evacuation centers set up by the Red Cross around San Diego County.

Goldstein was moved by the plight of some of the county’s poorer residents whom he found there. “People with resources don’t go to shelters,” he said. “I spoke with a father living in a trailer on his daughter’s property, which was destroyed. What does he do now? The Red Cross will help him find temporary shelter, but he receives $700 a month in Social Security and his medical bills are $800 a month.”

Goldstein said that while many people are focusing on the expensive homes lost in the conflagration, they should not forget the plight of less-affluent people who were left destitute.

“I spoke with lots of people living in trailers, families with little kids. The fathers are unemployed, the mothers are unemployed, and now that they’ve lost the trailer what are they to do?”

Listening to their tales, Goldstein said he tried to “bring comfort, and maybe talk about some of the greater theological issues as they came up, such as ‘Where is God? and ‘Why me?’ I told them that God was with us, listening to them.”

Donald H. Harrison is editor-in-chief and co-publisher of the San Diego Jewish

Press-Heritage. Tom Tugend is a JTA correspondent.

Where to contribute

Several organizations collecting funds for fire-relief assistance.

Bay Area

Locally, the S.F. Jewish Community Federation is collecting donations. Make checks payable to the JCF and write “SoCal Fire Relief” in the memo section of the check. Mail to JCF/SoCal Fire Relief, 121 Steuart St., S.F., CA 94105. To pay by credit card, to go to www.JewishFed.org. Information: (415) 777-0411 or info@sfjcf.org.

Los Angeles

The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles has set up a Fire Emergency Relief Fund. Phone: (323) 761-8200, or mail checks to Jewish Federation, 6505 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048, and write “Fire Relief Fund’’ on the memo line.

San Diego

In San Diego, checks can be sent to Jewish Community Disaster Fund, c/o Jewish Community Foundation, 4950 Murphy Canyon Rd., San Diego, CA 92123.

San Bernadino

Hard-hit Congregation Emanu El in San Bernardino has established a Fire Tzedakah Fund. Checks can be made out to Emanu El and sent to 3512 North E St., San Bernardino, CA 92405.

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