For some in the Jewish community, Hurricane Irene was a soggy inconvenience.
But for others, it became a moment to extend a helping hand — in at least two cases, tragically.
David Reichenberg, a 50-year-old Orthodox Jewish father of four from Spring Valley, N.Y., died saving a father and his 6-year-old son from a downed power line. Reichenberg came into contact with the live wire and was electrocuted. He was one of at least three Jews who were reported killed in the storm.
Michael Kenwood, 39, also died while attempting to help others.
A volunteer first aid worker from Princeton, N.J., Kenwood was checking a submerged car that rescuers thought was occupied when he became untethered and slipped. Kenwood was swept away by the current and later was pulled unconscious from the waters. He died later that night, reported the Trenton Times. The car was found to be abandoned.
Rozalia Gluck, 82, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was trapped in a Catskills motel that was swept away by flood waters during the storm. Authorities recovered her body late on Aug. 28. Isaac Abraham, a leader in the Brooklyn Chasidic community, told the New York Daily News that Gluck was a Holocaust survivor originally from Russia.
“She survived Hitler,” Abraham said, “but she couldn’t survive Irene.”
By late afternoon Aug. 30, 40 deaths in 11 states were attributed to Hurricane Irene and the tropical storm that followed it, CNN reported.
When the cleanup effort began on Aug. 29, many areas of the East Coast were still without public transportation, reliable roads, electric power or telephone lines. The major denominational synagogue groups were still trying to contact constituent congregations in those areas in which staff members couldn’t get to work.
Except for power outages and some minor flooding, no synagogues reported much damage. Torah scrolls and historical documents were moved to safe buildings on high ground, said Rabbi Elliott Kleinman, chief program director for the Union for Reform Judaism.
Even before the storm struck, the Jewish community attempted to prepare for the worst.
Some New York neighborhoods that are home to large Jewish communities were evacuated by order of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, including Brighton Beach and portions of Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn and Far Rockaway in Queens.
In Baltimore, the Rosenbloom Jewish Community Center opened its doors to 395 foreign workers, mostly Eastern European college students who had been evacuated from Ocean City, Md., the Baltimore Jewish Times reported. Although the JCC, located in the Baltimore suburb of Owings Mills, Md., had been designated an emergency evacuation center before, this was the first time the building had been used for that purpose.
“As a Jewish organization, the JCC has the privilege of stepping up to uphold the Jewish value of Hachnasat Orchim — welcoming of guests into one’s homes,” the JCC’s leadership wrote in an email, according to the report.
Before the storm, Jewish officials offered both practical and religious counsel in preparation for the hurricane. The URJ issued hurricane preparation guides.
The Orthodox website Vos Iz Neias posted halachic guidelines issued years ago by the Orthodox Union, Agudath Israel of America and others for what to do on the Sabbath in the event of a hurricane. Among other things, the guidelines specify that one may leave a radio on in a room of the house that is not generally used if there is concern for safety.
“The rabbis are getting a lot of calls today,” Dov Hikind, an Orthodox New York state assemblyman from Brooklyn, said on Aug. 26.