Jewish communities across America’s Northeast were slammed by a major storm system that wreaked havoc from Massachusetts down to New Jersey, claiming a handful of lives, sending rivers overflowing their banks and snapping trees and power lines.
The tempest, one of the worst late-winter Nor’easters to strike in recent memory, included heavy rain and 75 mile-per-hour winds, leaving more than 100,000 households without power and roadways impassable. Synagogues and Jewish community centers didn’t escape the trail of devastation, and even as they sorted through their own damage, Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries and Jewish community members strove to help friends and neighbors find light in the midst of the darkness.
As soon as power was restored at Chabad of Greenwich, Conn., Monday night, Rabbi Yossi and Maryashie Deren swung into action, moving first to reopen their center’s preschool and canvassing members of the community to see who still needed help. They sent out an e-mail to everyone on their list, inviting all who needed a hot meal and warm refuge to dinner. About 25 people attended, including local resident Sarah Mushka Woetzel.
“It was amazing that Chabad sent the e-mail the same day they got their power back,” she said. “We had a wonderful warm meal and family camaraderie.”
Over the weekend, Woetzel said her husband, armed with rain gear and flashlights, helped a stranded elderly couple make their way over fallen trees so they could spend the night at the Woetzels’ home.
Another family who did not lose power opened their home to those who needed a place to shower, plug in a computer, or recharge their cell phones.
“We are so blessed that everyone pulled together,” said Woetzel. “Other members of our community were amazed.”
“Our biggest savior was that the kids still had preschool,” said Amy Herman, whose family was without power for four nights. “The kids were starting to get runny noses. We were about to go to a hotel when the Derens reached out to us; we stayed there for one night. Everyone who had power was offering their homes to people who needed help.”
Irwin Hochberg of Rye Brook, in Westchester County, N.Y., considers his experience nothing short of miraculous. After spending Shabbat at his son’s house, he was attempting to drive home when he discovered that fallen trees had blocked most of the streets, making even the three mile trip impossible.
“I tried three different routes; all of them were blocked, so I decided to go back,” said Hochberg, a past chairman of the UJA Federation of New York and of the National Israel Bond Campaign.
Suddenly, his car was hit by a large tree, which fell across the dashboard, hood, and fenders. Hochberg managed to maneuver his practically demolished vehicle off the road, driving with his head out the window since his windshield was completely blocked by the tree. A similar occurrence in New Jersey actually claimed the lives of two Jewish men who were walking home from synagogue.
“I was able to get out and walk away,” he said. “Remarkably I didn’t have a scratch.”
After walking a half mile in the rain, Hochberg found his son’s house dark and deserted. Having forgotten his cell phone, he was unable to communicate with his worried son. He noticed lights on in a house across the street, and as he made his way over there, his son walked out the front door.
“When my son saw the car he said, ‘I don’t believe this.’ The man who towed the car said the same thing. This is not a coincidence,” said Hochberg. “I think somebody was watching over me.”
The Wilder family of Greenwich will always remember the day the storm hit; it was the Bar Mitzvah of their son, Jonathan. His mother, Beth Weiner Wilder, said the experience was bittersweet and very spiritual.
Wilder was moved by how many friends and family members traveled from places such as Florida, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C. to attend the celebration, despite the ominous weather. She was also touched that so many of the local congregants came to services on Saturday morning at the Chabad House, despite the rapidly impending storm.
On Sunday, the Wilders decided to go ahead with the party they had planned at the Western Greenwich Civic Center. When they arrived, they were surprised to see Red Cross signs on the windows. They soon discovered that the building was a designated emergency shelter for utility workers and families who were without heat and electricity. Because many of Jonathan’s friends were unable to attend the party because of the weather, there was an abundance of leftover food, which the Wilders were happy to donate to the shelter.
“The whole thing was so beshert,” she said, using a Yiddish term for things predestined. “The kids who were there had a wonderful time, and the people from the Red Cross told us how happy they were to get all that food. My son was disappointed that so many of his friends couldn’t come, but I think in years to come he’ll appreciate what happened. It was bittersweet.”
Chana Batkin, a member of the Greenwich community, and her houseguests used the bad weather as an opportunity for an impromptu party, singing songs and improvising a delicious “Blackout Soup,” made from canned beans, tomatoes and fresh vegetables, and heated on her gas stove, which she was able to light with a match.
Regional Impact
Other Connecticut communities responded in similar ways. Rabbi Yehudah Kantor of Chabad of Westport described a mid-day pizza party with entertainment on Wednesday for the kids whose schools were still closed.
Other places, however, weren’t so lucky. The Wellesley Weston Chabad House serving Wellesley and Babson Colleges in Massachusetts was still recovering from massive flooding by the end of the week. Three feet of water from elevated water tables inundated its basement, destroying an estimated $5,000 to $10,000 worth of Passover supplies, refrigerators and freezers, office equipment and computers, floors, walls, sofas and guest beds. The Chabad House’s insurance will reportedly not cover the damage.
The Chabad on Campus International Foundation set up an emergency fundraising campaign so that the Jewish center in Wellesley could provide Passover meals and services to Jewish students, and rebuild.
Rabbi Velvl Butman of Chabad of Westchester believed the storm provided an opportunity for spiritual inspiration and enlightenment.
“I was teaching a class on Saturday afternoon when trees started flying,” he said. “Two trees that were 50 or 60 feet tall just snapped. It was an awesome sight to see, surreal and sobering. I realized that every detail of life is so clearly in G‑d’s hands. There are a lot of lessons here.”
Butman said people reached out to help one another with meals, laundry and shelter. His eight children camped out in one room to stay warm.
“It was very challenging,” he said, “but it was inspiring to see people sharing. We’re a people that have been looking out for each other for more than three thousand years.”
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