Opinion
BE STRONG AND BE STRENGTHENED
Our responsibility to rebuild and sustain
The core imperative of every community professional is to ensure the security and well-being of their community. Our tradition speaks to this sacred principle:
“Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily, your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the Eternal shall be your rear guard. If you shall pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the eternal will guide you continually and satisfy your desire with good things and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters fail not.” (Isaiah 58:7-8, 10-11)
For those of us who have experienced the absence of rain for eight months and around whom flames have raged this past week, the specific language employed in the closing words shared by Isaiah are profoundly significant in this moment: “You shall be a watered garden, like a spring of water.” Here our leaders are symbolically charged with responding to the needs of the many who will require assistance in the aftermath of these fires. Not only is the essential and challenging act of fighting this “hurricane of flames” required, but the task of dealing with the human needs of those impacted and threatened becomes a primary responsibility. The power of community will be core to the rebuilding and sustaining of the thousands of lives affected.
Beyond the broader implications of this moment, which will involve one of the largest relief efforts in the history of the United States, a distinctive and challenging Jewish storyline is unfolding. At least 25% of the Jewish population of Greater Los Angeles live within the contours of these fires. We must take note not only of the losses of homes and businesses but also of the destruction of synagogues and other major institutions. The lives of so many families have been forever impacted by this carnage. Individuals are confronting incredible losses and dealing with their fears as they face an uncertain future. It becomes incredibility difficult to imagine what this devastation may mean for one encountering the sudden reality of having to begin life anew.
For our Jewish communal leaders, both our lay leaders and our professionals, this moment will represent their single greatest challenge and responsibility as we collectively seek to rebuild lives and recreate community. They must see themselves equipped and committed to the tasks at hand. Their dedication to the ideals of growing and strengthening Jewish life are at play in this moment. Lives are dependent upon them.
We are all impacted by this experience as we awaken to this new and pressing reality. Angelenos are called upon to reconstruct our community, but we should all remind ourselves that this is not solely a Los Angeles crisis. As a society bound together by our shared national identity and culture —
and, more directly, as a Jewish people bound to one another by history and covenant —
there is a collective character to this story.
The test of a community’s resilience and our organizational capacities will play out before us. We must view the tasks ahead as a collective experience where we draw upon the extraordinary ecosystem that forms and defines our Jewish communal infrastructure. Our partners must be national and regional. Just as we turn inward to mobilize, we must reach beyond our own institutional network to leverage the skills and resources of government and of the broader nonprofit sector.
There is no space here for individual enhancement or for the promotion of institutions; this must be seen as a shared, collective commitment. This moment represents the essence of community. Such an effort will need to begin with a strategic plan that acknowledges the stages and essential steps required to assist in the rebuilding of lives and in reconstructing institutions and services.
As we move forward, we also must draw upon prior partnership experiences, examples of communal excellence in managing the crisis of war, opportunities to rescue Jews and others, responses to floods, earthquakes and so much more. These past encounters become our playbook as we move to implement combined efforts in managing L.A.’s recovery and our Jewish communal responsibilities.
As fires still rage and this situation remains unsettled, it is difficult currently to imagine recovery. In this moment we are mourning the loss of lives, acknowledging and responding to the immediate needs of those who are displaced or homeless, praising the extraordinary efforts of the first responders — all while some of us continue to prepare to be evacuated.
In the weeks ahead, we will experience words, prayers, poems and music that will seek to memorialize and reflect on what we have encountered. We will come to celebrate our desire for wholeness and formally acknowledge what we have endured, even as we move forward to rebuild our city, recalibrate our lives and reclaim our destiny. In doing, so we celebrate the power of community as we look to our leaders to share their wisdom and skills, as they in turn are empowered by Isaiah’s words: “You shall be a watered garden.”
Steven Windmueller is a professor emeritus of Jewish communal studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles.