The parking lot of Temple Israel and Jewish Community Center of Ridgewood was turned into a river, “with actual white rapids at some points,” said its rabbi, David Fine. Courtesy Rabbi David Fine

For some in the Jewish community, Hurricane Irene was a soggy inconvenience.

For others, it became a moment to extend a helping hand — in at least one case, tragically.

Throughout the tristate area, tragedies were at a minimum, but the few tragedies that there were nevertheless were major ones for the families involved.

David Reichenberg, a 50-year-old Orthodox Jewish father of four from Spring Valley, N.Y., died saving a father and his six-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 two Jews who were reported killed by the storm.

The other, Rozalia Gluck, 82, was trapped in a Catskills motel that was swept away by flood waters during the storm. Authorities recovered her body late Sunday.

By late Monday, 33 deaths in 10 states were attributed to Hurricane Irene, The Associated Press reported.

Reichenberg's death came after he stopped to help a Jewish boy and his father who had been viewing damage outside their home in Rockland County, N.Y. The boy had touched a metal fence electrified by a fallen wire. Reichenberg pulled the two from the fence, but could not escape himself, according to an eyewitness.

Reichenberg was buried Sunday night. The injured boy was reported to be in critical but stable condition as of Monday. His father suffered only minor injuries.

Even before the storm struck, the Jewish community attempted to prepare for the worst.

Officials offered both practical and religious counsel in preparation for the hurricane. The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) issued hurricane preparation guides. The Orthodox website Vos Iz Neias {Ed. Note: it means "What's New?") 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.

Lindsay Goldman, the director of UJA-Federation of New York's J-11 Information Referral Center, reported that the philanthropy had advised its partner agencies to activate their emergency protocols, many of which were created only in recent years by federation grants, and were co-coordinating agencies to assist one another. As of Monday morning, she said, all agencies had reported that they were open.

The URJ and B'nai B'rith International both opened Hurricane relief funds to collect donations for hurricane aid. Rhonda Love, the director of B'nai B'rith's Center for Community Action, said that even though this disaster occurred in the densely Jewish East Coast, aid will remain consistent with past natural disaster relief efforts — based on need, not creed. "We'll work where there's any opportunity to help," Love said.

The committee that will allocate the URJ funds is currently reviewing damage reports from congregations but will give according to the needs of "congregations, Jewish communities, or larger communities," a spokesman said. Those decisions will be made in the next week or two, the spokesman added.

While Hurricane Irene spread havoc throughout much of New Jersey, area shuls and schools appear to have emerged with relatively little damage.

Among those monitoring the situation is the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, which itself lost power Monday afternoon through Tuesday morning.

“Fortunately, we were fine initially,” said David Gad-Harf, chief operating officer, explaining that federation mobilized its staff immediately after the storm, making calls and sending e-mails to all Jewish institutions in the area.

“I’m glad we had power long enough to reach out to a fairly significant number of institutions,” he said. “What we wanted to do is find out what Jewish institutions in northern New Jersey were impacted, how they were affected, and what kind of support and assistance federation could provide. We also wanted to convey that if there were people in desperate situations, they should be referred to Jewish Family Service agencies.”

Before Hurricane Irene struck, homeowners up and down the East Coast took precautions, including this homeowner in New Jersey. Robert Cumins

In this effort, federation also utilized social media, sending messages via Facebook and Twitter “to express concern and [urge] that people contact us if anyone was in dire straits and needed urgent help.”

Gad-Harf said his first approach was to area day schools, now preparing for the new school year.

“We were particularly concerned about the Solomon Schechter Day School in New Milford, since the town was flooded,” he said. On Tuesday, he received word that the school’s basement was, in fact, filled with water.

The Bergen County High School of Jewish Studies also reported flooding in its office area, though by Tuesday the water had been removed and was starting to dry out. Also flooded was Ohr Yosef in New Milford, which lost its power as well. It has since been restored.

“In these cases we offered temporary office space in our building until they were back up and running,” said Gad-Harf, “but they concluded they didn’t need it.”

He noted, as well, that according to Elliot Prager, principal of The Moriah School in Englewood, the school initially lost power and internet service but was back to normal on Tuesday.

As part of their outreach efforts, federation professionals contacted synagogues in some 10 areas that experienced flooding. These included Barnert Temple in Franklin Lakes, Beth Haverim-Shir Shalom in Mahwah, Cong. Beth Tikvah in New Milford, Beth Shalom in Pompton Lakes, Temple Beth El in Rutherford, and three congregations in Wayne—Shomrei Torah, Chabad, and Beth Tikvah.

“Thank God, most institutions were spared significant damage,” he said. “Only a few so far have experienced flooding. Several lost electric power, but all of them have had their power restored. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured or lost their home or was thrust into the financial abyss.”

Still, Gad-Harf said Barnert Temple informed him that some of its member families are still without power and could use a generator. Federation will spread the word about that, he said.

He noted also that federation learned on Tuesday that Temple Israel and Jewish Community Center in Ridgewood experienced some flooding. Shul administrator Maureen Nassan reported that the synagogue and surrounding area “was pretty much a lake at first, [including] the parking lot, surrounding areas, across the street, and the basement.” The shul did not lose power, however, thanks to its sump pumps.

According to Nancy Perlman, the federation staff member who spoke with Nassan, “Now it’s just smelly and mucky, but the worst is behind them. They’re suggesting people not park in the lot, as it’s still very muddy.”

Gad-Harf said that Jewish agencies, with one exception, fared well.

“JFS of Bergen and North Hudson lost power but they got it back this [Tuesday] morning and they’re back in business,” he said. “But they continued to see clients on Monday even though they had no power.”

JFS agencies also continued to provide Kosher Meals on Wheels. (This reporter can attest, however, that this was no easy task, since many of the usual routes were affected by the flooding and volunteers needed to be particularly creative.)

“I’m so glad we did this,” Gad-Harf said of federation’s outreach effort, “not just to identify the problems that exist but to make people and institutions know that we’re there for them. Almost everyone—to a person—expressed appreciation. Maybe that sends a message to us that people value being part of a larger whole. They needed moral support from the Jewish community.”

The Jewish Standard received news from other sources, as well.

According to Caryn Starr-Gates, president of Reconstructionist Temple Beth Israel in Maywood, “Surprisingly enough — and it is surprising — RTBI did not take on any water after the storm this weekend.” Gates, like many other shul presidents and rabbis, also reached out to congregants to see if they needed any help.

In an e-mail with the subject heading “Are you OK?” Rabbi Jordan Millstein of Temple Sinai in Tenafly checked in with members to see how they weathered the storm. Wrote Millstein, “I received one very unfortunate report that a tree crashed through the bedroom of a member. Fortunately, she was up and not in the room at the time.” The rabbi noted that the center of Demarest, near his home, was flooded, joking that “The Demarest Duck Pond is now the Demarest Lake.” He also said that he only had a little water in his own basement.

Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, religious leader of Ahavath Torah in Englewood, said things seemed to be “okay here.” Some of his congregants lost power, he said, but “other than that, some fallen trees and some flooding, [there was] no damage to the synagogue and, as far as we know, no other congregations.”

Volunteers from throughout the Jewish community worked with Nechama at a Lodi home on Sept. 11. They are shown here piling debris from the demolition of a flooded basement.

Ironic? Yes. Funny? No.

“Someone on the street had a powerboat in the driveway named Irene,” said Ridgewood resident Bette Birnbaum, who recently helped devastated families dig out after the hurricane.

Birnbaum, a member of Mahwah’s Reform synagogue Beth Haverim-Shir Shalom and a longtime instructor in the JFNNJ-sponsored Florence Melton Adult Mini-School, said the experience was both moving and eye-opening.

“The smell was deathly,” she said of the flooded homes. “Families were in great distress. It felt like it was the first time I had done something so helpful to someone.”

Working with her rabbi, Joel Mosbacher, and dozens of volunteers from the National Council of Synagogue Youth, Yeshiva University, and other organizations, Birnbaum joined an effort spearheaded by Nechama: The Jewish Response to Disaster, based in Minnesota.

Professionals from the organization arrived here on Labor Day and will remain through Rosh Hashanah. So far, they have worked in such hard-hit communities as River Edge, Saddle Brook, and Lodi.

“Their truck says, ‘A Jewish Response to Disaster,’” said Birnbaum, noting that the son of one woman they helped said he used to have “a chip on his shoulder regarding Jews. But now he loves them.”

Jim Stein, executive director of the organization, said fostering such changes of heart is one of the group’s goals.

“Frequently, we’re the only Jews some of these people have ever met,” he said, adding that much of his work has been in the American heartland.

On the other hand, some of his volunteers — like the NCSY members who have joined his projects more than a half-dozen times, in places from Birmingham to Texas — haven’t been exposed to non-Jews, either.

“It helps break stereotypes down,” he said.

Calling Nechama’s work “hard but rewarding” and “very messy,” Stein said the organization, founded in 1996, handles the initial clean-up after a flood.

‘Mucking out’

“We do the mucking out,” he said. “Our slogan is ‘Get dirty doing good.’ We tell our volunteers, ‘Imagine that this is your own basement.’ We also try to have them interview a disaster victim.”

Clean-up efforts are supervised by a trained professional, Dan Hoeft, the group’s operations manager. “We remove possessions, clear walls, clean, and sanitize,” said Hoeft, adding that when Nechama leaves, rebuilding can begin.

According to Stein, when a disaster occurs, Nechama sends an e-mail blast to people to have worked with the group previously, as well as to various groups, such as OU and Jewish federations, that may want to provide volunteers.

“They then call our contact person here in Minnesota and find out where we’ll be,” he said. “FEMA calls them ‘unaffiliated’ volunteers. They’re not affiliated with a particular group but they want to be helpful.”

“We have over 300 volunteers signed up to work with us between Sept. 5 and Sept. 28,” added Nechama administrator Amy Cytron.

Stein explained that after disasters, organizations such as the Red Cross and United Way encourage people in distress to call the emergency number 211 and request help. Local organizations then match up the victims with those equipped to provide assistance.

In the case of Hurricane Irene, Lisa Orloff of the World Cares Center, based in New York, monitored the 211 calls and provided Nechama with a list of New Jersey victims.

“Every state has a VOAD [Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster],” said Hoeft. When people who need help dial into the 211 system, “We work with them to help prioritize — the elderly, handicapped, single parents. We need to start with those who need the most help.”

‘We’re bouncing around’

Most sites can be done in a day, he said, pointing out that Nechama — together with volunteers from NCSY, Yeshiva University, Beth Haverim-Shir Shalom, and NYU — have already tackled sites in Saddle Brook, River Edge, Lodi, and Paterson.

“We’re bouncing around,” he said. “We’re going to expand to Essex and Passaic because there’s no volunteer presence there.”

Sizing up the damage inflicted in northern New Jersey, Hoeft said, “A disaster is a disaster — whether eight feet or a few inches of water — if you can’t deal with it yourself. Some homes were slightly damaged. In some, the main level of the house was under five feet of water. It destroys clothes, food, dishes, lives. It didn’t seem [the storm] would do that much, but the aftermath really affected people.”

In notes she kept detailing Nechama’s efforts in two locations, Birnbaum wrote about the resilience of families affected by the storm.

She wrote of one woman in Lodi, “Despite suffering from some medical problems, Marilyn seems strong and resourceful. She feels ‘happy that we are safe.’ Marilyn also puts the disaster in perspective. She said, ‘It could have been a volcano. Our people come from Pompeii. They had Vesuvius.’”

The Volunteers

Hoeft told The Jewish Standard that he was “glad to be able to be out here and close to a large Jewish population. In so many areas, we don’t have a lot of Jewish volunteers. Here the groups are really coming out.”

He noted that NCSY volunteers are “unbelievably good workers. They get a learning experience they can’t get in a classroom. They get to see extreme poverty and understand the importance of helping out.”

Eye-opening experience

“Many of the kids have never been out of Teaneck and Fair Lawn,” said Cytron. “They haven’t gone to the rural places where Nechama is typically working. And they’re meeting people who have never met Jews. It’s an incredibly eye-opening experience.”

For some groups, like NCSY, working with Nechama is part of leadership training.

Nechama provides those volunteers with “an opportunity to help those who really need the help: single parents, people who are ill, people with no resources,” said Cytron. “It’s a wonderful meld of our mission and what [NCSY] is trying to teach them.”

Stein called NCSY an “amazing partner” and added that Nechama was proud to have received the youth organization’s first-ever partnership award, presented last month at a national staff convention in Stamford, Conn.

Rabbi Ethan Katz, associate director of New Jersey NCSY, the youth arm of the Orthodox Union, said he has been able to provide volunteer groups of about 15 people each day.

“Different people show up different days,” he said, noting that schools such as the Torah Academy of Bergen County are among those providing the workers.

Using e-mails, Facebook, and texting to mobilize volunteers 16 years and older, the Teaneck-based youth group invites interested students to call its office for their assignments.

In a statement soliciting volunteers, Katz wrote, “Confronted with wind and rain and the ensuing floods that have turned local streets into quagmires and backyards into swamps, New Jersey NCSY — which for four years has organized teens from NCSY groups and local yeshivas and public high schools to go on the road to bring disaster relief following hurricanes and tornadoes — finds itself with enough work in Bergen and Essex Counties to plan for almost a full month of cleanup activities at its home base.”

“The kids find it a life-changing experience,” said Katz. “They can make a difference in someone’s life [and see] the power of kids working together. They work side by side with homeowners and see their appreciation.”

Creating ‘real leadership’

He said that over the past few years, NCSY has been leading such volunteer efforts “for chesed and tikkun olam” — for helping people and repairing the world. “It’s not about bowling and ice-skating. It creates real leadership. They love doing this kind of stuff,” he said. “It’s what they’re looking for.”

Rabbi Joel Mosbacher said his stint in Saddle Brook on Labor Day reminded him of his first volunteer assignment with Nechama, helping to clean up New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

After viewing the damage in Saddle Brook, Mahwah, Wayne, and Paterson, the rabbi said, “Anyone who says that Irene was not a big deal or that the government overreacted hasn’t gotten out that much. It was devastating. The needs are intense.”

In one Saddle Brook home, said the rabbi, “we went in and took everything out of the basement. The homeowner was there and helped us separate keep from throwaway. It was very emotional for her. Then when everything was gone, we took down the walls and plasterboard to the studs, cleaning with bleach to prevent mold. This will allow the homeowner to put up new plasterboard and begin again.”

Mosbacher, who is urging members of his Reform synagogue to help with the clean-up — they have already brought supplies to affected areas — said he “hopes the Jewish community will step up in ways we haven’t quite done yet.”

Sees great need locally

While the community sent “18-wheelers [with supplies] to New Orleans, I don’t see that kind of mobilization in the community yet. It’s on a different scale, a different crisis, but there’s actually tremendous need in this area,” he said.

Mosbacher said he has remained in touch with Nechama since his work in New Orleans.

“I got an e-mail saying they were mobilizing in Bergen and it was clear that we were needed right away,” he said.

His synagogue is also trying to line up hosts for the two Nechama representatives who are here supervising the work.

“My congregation is hosting for a week,” he said. “I’ve reached out to other rabbis to get them to host, as well. When they were deployed to rural Alabama, they stayed in churches,” he noted. “It can’t be that when they come here they end up sleeping [only] in churches, as well.”

Joining Mosbacher in Saddle Brook was his 13-year-old son, Ari. “My son hadn’t done anything like that before,” he said. “It was an overwhelming experience. I’m very proud of him.”

Stacy Orden, coordinator of Bonim Builders — a project of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey — said she has been serving as “point person” between Nechama and those who have called into federation for assistance. Bonim, staffed by volunteers, repairs houses for those in need.

“We’ve gotten requests from the Teaneck, Maywood, and Oakland areas,” said Orden. “If a synagogue needs assistance, they call federation and I connect them with Nechama. If an individual in a private residence needs flood remediation, then they dial 211 and Nechama or a similar organization will put that residence on the work schedule.”

Orden explained that before the 211 system was firmly established, Bonim did receive some calls and was able to help some families individually. Her group had sent out a message calling for volunteers before the Labor Day weekend and got about a dozen responses, she said. Four of the callers were assigned to provide hurricane relief.