Katrina’s Jewish Voices

This photograph was taken by Donna Matherne at the Torah dedication ceremony at Beth Israel Congregation. Since Katrina, Beth Israel Congregation has been holding their services in their own hall at Congregation Gates of Prayer in Metairie, Louisiana. The Torah is being carried through the neighborhood, from the Chabad Center two blocks away to Congregation Gates of Prayer. The girl in the photograph is Hayley Fields, a teenager from Century City Young Israel Congregation in Los Angeles, who...

This is an article by Gail Chalew, which describes the Torah dedication ceremony at Congregation Beth Israel. The synagogue was flooded from Katrina and the seven torah scrolls were ruined. A girl from California, Hayley Fields, decided to raise money to buy the synagogue a new Torah, and on August 27, 2006, there was a ceremony to celebrate the new Torah. This article appeared in Deep South Jewish Voice.

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...

Bridge to Biloxi, a Concord MA interfaith group with specific ties to Kerem Shalom, First Parish, Trinitarian Congregationalist, and St Irene's Carlisle, has been doing volunteer work in East Biloxi. We have sent down volunteer teams throughout the spring, including a youth group lead by Marni Kaplan-/Earle, representing Kerem Shalom. Further, we have met with Beth Israel Synagogue in Biloxi several times to assess their needs and offer assistance. Peter Hilton personally attended one of their...

This is a photograph of the memorial wall at Congregation Beth Israel, March, 2006. The wall is destroyed - you can see through the wall to the room behind it.