The Houston flooding that occurred on Motzei Shavuos (Monday night, May 25th) unfortunately devastated the Houston neighborhood of Meyerland.
One shul, the Meyerland Minyan, took in lots of water and experienced extensive damage. Many of their seforim were destroyed and tefillin were, r”l, ruined. Much of the building was damaged, including the flooring, kitchen cabinets, appliances, and base of the walls – all of which will need to be replaced as will much of the shul’s furniture.
Many of their member’s homes were destroyed as well. Some homes took in four feet of water as the owners spent the night sitting on their kitchen islands. One family even retreated to the crawl space in their attic. B”H no one was hurt, although one family woke up in the middle of the night to their car alarm going off due to the car filling with water. They immediately ran to their baby’s crib only to find that the water had just come up to the mattress of the sleeping infant. B”H the baby was taken out just in time.
The rebuilding process will be extensive and costly, both for the families and the shul. The community are thankful that the kehillah has come together to lend each other support and work toward rebuilding.
Anyone who would like to contribute toward the effort can do so by visiting MeyerlandMinyan.org.
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6 Responses
Rebuilding is a waste of time, resources and energy and an affront to Hashem who sent the floodwaters in order to spur these Yidden to leave galus!
Unfortunately things are a lot worse as described. An elderly Jewish couple drowned and their levaya is on Sunday. http://jhvonline.com/body-of-jack-alter-confirmed-p19308-96.htm
Perhaps this is Hashem’s way of telling Jews in Houston to get out and move to Eretz Yisrael. Rebbetzin Jungries says that Hashem sends us many alarms, but many times we hit the snooze button.
We do not use aliyah as an excuse not to help our brothers. People’s houses and shuls are destroyed I told you do’s don’t rebuild their life. Chessed iber ales.Did anyone ever say not to rebuild shuls in Israel that were attacked r”l because they are not safe? Aliyah is for good reasons not warped ones.Besides Houston is a nice kehillah that’s given plenty of tzedakka for Israel.
Read :I told you so’s not do’s
The answer is in Tanach. Specifically in Perek 1, pasukim 16-17 of Navi Yeshayahu. The first word of the pair is Rachatzu. The end of the pair refers to the terrible situation that has existed for a decade in another southwestern US city that our community has not only turned a blind eye to but has also encouraged the perpetrator. It was shocking yet no surprise that the fourth incidence of a frum Jewish community and shuls flooding has occurred in this decade.