Katrina’s Jewish Voices

In January, 2006 Hillel students from around North America repaired roofs in Biloxi, MS. Pictured are students from Brandeis and NYU along with Rabbi Allan Lehmann, Jewish Chaplain at Brandeis.

This is a photograph of a quilt made by Susan Schrott after she and her older daughter participated in a United Jewish Appeal (UJA) Mission for Teens from Westchester, NY to Baton Rouge and New Orleans, April 9-11, 2006. The patches on the quilt include photographs from the trip around the border with a tree in the middle. Some of the leaves have words or messages on them. There are also hands on the bottom of the quilt with words on them. In the sky under the tree, there are birds, which...

This photograph was taken at Northshore Jewish Congregation in Mandeville, Louisiana. The photo shows that the ceiling fell down on the pews.

Rabbi Isaac Leider of ZAKA Rescue and Recovery, sits in an inflatable boat with seven Torah scrolls after they were salvaged from the flooded Beit Israel (or Beth Israel) synagogue in New Orleans 13 September 2005. American volunteers with an Israeli charity rescued seven Torah scrolls from a New Orleans synagogue flooded by hurricane Katrina. Many of them were wet and it was uncertain whether they could be salvaged. Four soldiers from a California unit brought Leider and other volunteer to the...

Congregation Beth Israel in Biloxi sustained serious damage to its building. It is the only Jewish congregation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. They are currently holding services at Beauvoir Methodist Church. Beauvoir is the name of Jefferson Davis' plantation, which is located nearby.