FOR THE SAKE OF TORAH
“…A STORM SURGE BREACHED THE LEVEE — AND LEFT EIGHTY PERCENT OF THE CITY UNDERWATER…”
“…RABBI LEIDER PREPARED FOR HIS NEXT — AND MOST EMOTIONAL — RESCUE MISSION…”
(August 2005) When Hurricane Katrina hit the southern coast of the United States, it created a path of destruction across southern Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. More than 1,800 people perished from the storm and its aftermath. Damage totaled more than $80 billion, making Katrina the most costly natural disaster in United States history.
 The city of New Orleans was devastated by the hurricane’s winds and by a storm surge that caused 53 different levee breaches… and left eighty percent of the city underwater. Thousands of people were stranded on their rooftops, or succumbed to the toxic waters that surround them.
When Rabbi Leider first heard of Katrina’s aftermath, he sprang into action and traveled to New Orleans with supplies and a small rescue crew. The Jewish Organizations of New Orleans expressed to him their deep concern for the city’s elderly Jewish population, located in the Garden District.
 Though Rabbi Leider went to assist residents, his mission turned out to be more a recovery of victims than a rescue of the stranded. Massive power outages and flooding had caused the deaths of many elderly patients who had been hooked up to life support machines. It was now up to Rabbi Leider to retrieve and identify the bodies, as well as to work with numerous officials — including FEMA, the Louisiana State Department of Health, the local coroner’s office, and the disaster mortuary team — to expedite their release for proper burial.
But Rabbi Leider’s work was not over. Rabbi Schiff of Congregation Beth Israel in New Orleans contacts Rabbi Leider with a special request: to recover their seven sacred Torah scrolls. Rabbi Yisroel Shiff hoped that his Orthodox synagogue's holy scrolls would come through Hurricane Katrina undamaged. But if not, he wanted them buried in the appropriate manner.
With help from government officials, Rabbi Leider prepared for his next and most emotional rescue mission: he would fly to the synagogue with a military escort to recover the Torah scrolls.
Their helicopter could not land on the roof of the synagogue because of the possibility of structural damage to the building. Instead, Rabbi Leider secured boats from the Homeland Security office in New Orleans. Rabbi Leider also enlisted the aid of the California Urban Search and Rescue Task Force Number 3. Rabbi Leider recalls that the residents and officials were unbelievably respectful of his sacred mission.
 The airborne team landed half a mile from the synagogue, and then traveled by boat to the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue. Through the stench of waist high, filthy waters, Rabbi Leider waded into the synagogue and located the Aron (ark) that held the water-logged and damaged Torah scrolls.
With great care, he handed them to rescuers in the boats. From the boats, the Torah scrolls were transported by helicopter to an area just outside Baton Rouge and returned to Congregation Beth Israel, which had relocated after evacuating New Orleans. |
