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Responding to Disaster in Baton Rouge - Parashat Ki Tavo 5776 - September 23, 2016

This has been a unique week for the students of the Feinstone Yeshiva of the South!

In a normal week, two presentations – one by Rabbi Dovid Lieberman on the topic of Free Will and another by Ambassador Yoram Ettinger on the topic of supporting the State of Israel – would have been momentous. But this was no ordinary week.

Our students – Cooper Yeshiva on Sunday/Monday and Goldie Margolin on Wednesday/Thursday – partnered with Nechama-Jewish Response to Disaster in providing disaster relief to three families who suffered catastrophic loss during last month’s floods in Baton Rouge, LA. Our students hauled damaged personal effects to the curb. They removed damaged drywall, flooring, paneling and appliances. They removed many, many nails. Our students worked very hard.

As a chaperone for each of these two trips (CYHSB and GMSG), I saw the students witnessing destruction first-hand. The scenes were sobering. We saw block after block of homes devoid of life – families gone and the guts of these houses spilled out on to the curb waiting to be loaded into a garbage truck. Our students were moved by what they saw. They were also moved by the opportunity that they had to help improve the situation – their work really made a difference! One of the houses that they worked on was transformed from a moldy house into one that is ready to be rebuilt. In another of the houses that they worked on, the family was living in the house. Through their work, our students gave these family members hope that they are not alone. Although they were impacted by the destruction, they were uplifted by the impact of working together to help solve a problem.

In this week’s parsha, Ki Tavo, Moshe reminds the Jewish People that Hashem is telling them to be a treasured people to Hashem and to guard His commandments. Sforno explains that becoming a treasured people is accomplished through actualizing our potential as beings created in Hashem’s image – through emulating Hashem’s actions. Hashem created humans to have free will to improve themselves and the world around them. The mission of the Jewish People is to project this idea to the world.

I am so proud that our students projected the idea this week to the people of Baton Rouge that through emulating Hashem’s actions we can improve ourselves and the world around us.

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