The MetroWest NOLA group gathers in the rain before being assigned their project for the day at St. Bernard’s Parish: from left, front row, Rebecca Missel, Jamie Ramsfelder, Rebecca Hoffmann, Heather Cohen, and Claudia Minde; and, second row, Brian Pollack, Philip Paul, and Brandon Minde.
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March 26, 2009
If you’re going to put the concept of tikun olam (repairing the world) into action, there are few better places to start than New Orleans. Over a three-day period, March 15-17, nine of us from MetroWest joined over 600 young Jewish leaders, descending on the Big Easy to do just that — repairing — for this year’s national United Jewish Communities’ NOLA — New Orleans, La. — Young Leadership Conference.
MetroWest participants included Brian Pollack, Philip Paul, Jamie Ramsfelder, Heather Cohen, Rebecca Missel, Michelle Segal, and Young Leadership Division director Rebecca Hoffmann. My wife, Claudia, and I served as recruitment chairs.
While everyone knows New Orleans is a vibrant city known for its music, food, and fun, many people do not realize that three years after Hurricane Katrina, the city is still in great need.
Being in post-Katrina New Orleans gave us the opportunity to observe and engage in hands-on efforts to repair the world. At the opening plenary, we heard from many of the community’s leaders, who took us beyond the headlines into the reality of what it takes to rebuild a devastated community. We heard Scott Cowen, the president of Tulane University, describe how the school weathered the storm, physically and figuratively.
Rabbi Uri Topolosky of Congregation Beth Israel of New Orleans told his heartrending tale about losing the synagogue to the flood and having to bury seven damaged Torah scrolls.
While we listened to each Katrina horror story with our mouths agape, we drew inspiration from how these people and institutions were able to rise above the devastation and rebuild. Tulane University recently had a record-setting year for applications received, and Beth Israel’s congregation now shares space with another synagogue while they wait to move into a permanent home.
In the afternoon, we boarded buses for visits to post-Katrina New Orleans. The destruction we saw as we toured the hard-hit Ninth Ward was unbelievable: empty plots where homes once stood, street signs replaced with pieces of wood hammered to trees, cement stairs that led to nowhere. If I were asked to conjure up images of a warzone, this would be it.
Laying new dirt, rocks, and mulch for the new community sports complex are, from left, Rebecca Hoffmann, Jamie Ramsfelder, and Claudia Minde.
“How could this exist in the United States?” I asked myself. Would we ever allow this if our MetroWest community experienced similar destruction? While some of us questioned the appropriateness of rebuilding and spending so much money in an area prone to such devastating flooding — a fair debate indeed — all of us felt for those still living among the carnage.
But instead of throwing our hands up and questioning what we could do, we saw an opportunity to practice tikun olam.
Repairing the world
Monday was dedicated to an all-day service project to assist the New Orleans community in one of its rebuilding efforts. National UJC partnered with St. Bernard Parish to help renovate the remnants of Archbishop Hannan High School into a state-of-the-art youth complex with the capacity to host regional sporting events, theater productions, and concerts.
Located 15 minutes outside of the heart of New Orleans, St. Bernard Parish was devastated by the hurricane. The eye of the storm passed over the most populated area, destroying its levees, flooding nearly every home and building in the parish, and leaving eight feet of standing water. Houses were smashed or washed off their foundations by a storm surge higher than their roofs.
Despite its near total devastation, St. Bernard Parish has received little or no media attention as its citizens work to rebuild their community.
Hurricane Katrina literally washed away all but one of Archbishop Hannan High School’s buildings. The school decided to rebuild 40 miles away. What remains on its original campus is one damaged building, overrun athletic fields, and a former football field that until recently housed hundreds of FEMA trailers.
The group goes out to have a taste of New Orleans fare.
We spent the day working on transforming the former high school into the Hannan Youth Complex. We painted, landscaped, built structures, repaired fences, and more. The 600 of us were joined by about 100 college students who had dedicated their spring break to tikun olam.
While we accomplished much, there was more to be done than a day’s work, and others will pick up where we left off. Nevertheless, we all left knowing we did what Louisiana natives call a “lagniappe,” the Cajun word for a little something extra that can truly make a world of difference.
Leaving New Orleans, I felt the conference inspired me to continue working to repair the world. While I am not ready to pack up and move to New Orleans, I know there is plenty of repairing to do in our own community. We can all participate in service projects here. We can all search out and engage in activities that will strengthen ourselves and bring strength to those around us. Even here in New Jersey we can all practice “lagniappe.”
Brandon Minde is from Livingston.
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