Volunteers at shul, school carry flood recovery forward
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Fourth-graders from Yeshiv Torat Emet helped set up the social hall at a flood-recovering United Orthodox Synagogues May 29 for a Bar Mitzvah Shabbat service.
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Groups of students are volunteering their labor to free up staff who are working to rebuild a flooded United Orthodox Synagogues.
Meanwhile, parents and volunteers are spearheading a $75,000 emergency fundraising campaign to help reopen Goldberg Montessori School, which shares a campus with UOS in the Willow Meadows subdivision, after it, too, was damaged by floodwaters over Memorial Day, May 25-26.
“These are our brothers and sisters,” said Rabbi Eliezer Kessler, an educator at Yeshiva Torat Emet, who led a cleanup crew of fourth-graders Friday morning, May 29, at UOS. “When the right hand hurts, the left hand helps out.”
The group of 14 students immediately went to work. UOS is celebrating the Bar Mitzvah of Noah Diner this Shabbat. The synagogue’s sanctuary took in several feet of water during the flash flood, so Saturday’s Bar Mitzvah ceremony and Torah service will take place in the social hall, instead.
To help with preparations, the YTE students organized hundreds of siddurim and chumashim on tables at the back of the room, as well as set up chairs for seating.
“We’re taking time out of Torah learning in the classroom, because the community needs help,” Rabbi Kessler told the JHV. “By being here, we can free up manpower so UOS staff can focus on the larger challenge of recovery.”
The students, themselves, found value in the task.
“We’re here to do chesed [acts of loving kindness],” said YTE fourth-grader, Yakira Kravetz. “Chesed is one of the three things that the world stands on.
“We’re helping people, here, so they don’t have to do everything themselves."
School cleanup
After setting up the social hall for Shabbat, the students went to work down at the school wing.
A major cleaning effort was underway Friday morning at Goldberg Montessori, with teachers and volunteers trying to make sense of damaged and undamaged contents in the school’s nine classrooms.
Teacher Anna Goldshtein was out in the hallway, wiping off laminated Judaics materials and trying to salvage water-soaked papers. She worked in silence.
“It’s hard not to be depressed,” Goldshtein said. “I lost a lot of irreplaceable things. Things I brought here from Israel. “They’re all gone,” she lamented.
Across the hall, Monique Melloul was in her classroom, sorting through bins. She returned to school yesterday for the first time since the flood. At first glance, she said she felt “heartbroken.”
“I came in and just started crying,” Melloul said. “Today is a bit better, though. We have a plan.
“We’re going to clean and get ready for the children to return,” she said, determined.
Volunteer Betty Babendure was seated at a wooden table on the other side of Melloul’s classroom. Wearing a facemask and protective gloves, she worked meticulously with a cloth and cleaning solution to save a pile of colorful plastic letters used for teaching.
“I live on the other side of town. When I heard about the school, I reached out to my Hadassah friends, and here we are, doing what we can,” Babendure said.
“We’re putting things back together, letter by letter,” she added.
High school students from the Robert M. Beren Academy also are continuing to help at the school.
“I moved to Houston a couple years ago from New York,” said Atara Braum, 16. “We went through [Super Storm] Sandy, so I know firsthand what it takes to get through something like this.
“People helped us recover from Sandy, so I know how much help, here, is appreciated,” she said.
Fundraising effort
Goldberg parents also are stepping up in a huge ways, according to head of school Debra Kira.
A special fund has been established to raise $75,000 in emergency funds for the school to aid in recovery efforts. Donations can be made three ways:
• online at crowdrise.com/uosgmsemergencyrelief
• through PayPal at uosgms.org/giving
• by check payable to UOSGMS to United Orthodox Synagogues Goldberg Montessori School, 9001 Greenwillow St., Houston, TX 77096
“We are so grateful for what our parents are doing,” Kira said. “They are phenomenal.”
Elizabeth Morris, who runs the school’s administrative office, is encouraged by the outpouring of support.
“We are the school – the kids, the parents, the teachers, the people – not the walls,” she said.
Meanwhile, parents and volunteers are spearheading a $75,000 emergency fundraising campaign to help reopen Goldberg Montessori School, which shares a campus with UOS in the Willow Meadows subdivision, after it, too, was damaged by floodwaters over Memorial Day, May 25-26.
“These are our brothers and sisters,” said Rabbi Eliezer Kessler, an educator at Yeshiva Torat Emet, who led a cleanup crew of fourth-graders Friday morning, May 29, at UOS. “When the right hand hurts, the left hand helps out.”
The group of 14 students immediately went to work. UOS is celebrating the Bar Mitzvah of Noah Diner this Shabbat. The synagogue’s sanctuary took in several feet of water during the flash flood, so Saturday’s Bar Mitzvah ceremony and Torah service will take place in the social hall, instead.
To help with preparations, the YTE students organized hundreds of siddurim and chumashim on tables at the back of the room, as well as set up chairs for seating.
“We’re taking time out of Torah learning in the classroom, because the community needs help,” Rabbi Kessler told the JHV. “By being here, we can free up manpower so UOS staff can focus on the larger challenge of recovery.”
The students, themselves, found value in the task.
“We’re here to do chesed [acts of loving kindness],” said YTE fourth-grader, Yakira Kravetz. “Chesed is one of the three things that the world stands on.
“We’re helping people, here, so they don’t have to do everything themselves."
School cleanup
After setting up the social hall for Shabbat, the students went to work down at the school wing.
A major cleaning effort was underway Friday morning at Goldberg Montessori, with teachers and volunteers trying to make sense of damaged and undamaged contents in the school’s nine classrooms.
Teacher Anna Goldshtein was out in the hallway, wiping off laminated Judaics materials and trying to salvage water-soaked papers. She worked in silence.
“It’s hard not to be depressed,” Goldshtein said. “I lost a lot of irreplaceable things. Things I brought here from Israel. “They’re all gone,” she lamented.
Across the hall, Monique Melloul was in her classroom, sorting through bins. She returned to school yesterday for the first time since the flood. At first glance, she said she felt “heartbroken.”
“I came in and just started crying,” Melloul said. “Today is a bit better, though. We have a plan.
“We’re going to clean and get ready for the children to return,” she said, determined.
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| JHV: MICHAEL C. DUKE Volunteer Betty Babendure helped clean classroom materials May 29 at UOS Goldberg Montessori School as part of flood-recovery efforts. |
“I live on the other side of town. When I heard about the school, I reached out to my Hadassah friends, and here we are, doing what we can,” Babendure said.
“We’re putting things back together, letter by letter,” she added.
High school students from the Robert M. Beren Academy also are continuing to help at the school.
“I moved to Houston a couple years ago from New York,” said Atara Braum, 16. “We went through [Super Storm] Sandy, so I know firsthand what it takes to get through something like this.
“People helped us recover from Sandy, so I know how much help, here, is appreciated,” she said.
Fundraising effort
Goldberg parents also are stepping up in a huge ways, according to head of school Debra Kira.
A special fund has been established to raise $75,000 in emergency funds for the school to aid in recovery efforts. Donations can be made three ways:
• online at crowdrise.com/uosgmsemergencyrelief
• through PayPal at uosgms.org/giving
• by check payable to UOSGMS to United Orthodox Synagogues Goldberg Montessori School, 9001 Greenwillow St., Houston, TX 77096
“We are so grateful for what our parents are doing,” Kira said. “They are phenomenal.”
Elizabeth Morris, who runs the school’s administrative office, is encouraged by the outpouring of support.
“We are the school – the kids, the parents, the teachers, the people – not the walls,” she said.