[VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]
Among the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy, the Agudah in Bayswater was unfortunately destroyed. Sadly, the Shul had just last week completed renovations caused by last years Hurricane Irene when this calamity struck.
According to a source at the Shul, the shul was flooded by the storm surge coming from the bay, and the pumps placed in and around the shul couldn’t keep up with the floodwaters. The shul very quickly filled with 6 feet of water – as seen by the waterline on the walls of the Shul.
All the Seforim – except for the Sifrei Torah thankfully – tables, chairs, walls, Bimah, Aron Kodesh, and Shtenders were destroyed. It appears that the shul may have to condemn the building and restart again.
The situation is very dire, and as of now, the shul reaching out to anyone who can assist them in rebuilding. The shul is an enormous part of the Bayswater community. There are hundreds who use it on a daily basis and rely on it for their Torah and tefilla needs. (Yeshivas Zichron Aryeh is also housed in the shul). The Shul is reaching out to the broader community to help them rebuild this vital source of Torah and Tefilla and need as much financial assistance that they can get. Checks can be made out to Agudath Israel of Bayswater c/o 1360 Norton Drive Far Rockaway NY 11691.
Tizku Limitzos!
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(Chaim Schapiro – YWN)
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9 Responses
dont they have insurance?
From the picture, and the fact the building appears to be in area prone to flooding, perhaps they should design the building on “stilts” as if often done in areas that are subject to flooding.
While living near the ocean is nice (more pleasant climate than inland – except for hurricanes), if you live along the Atlantic Coast you need to anticipate flooding caused by tropical storms.
What about FEMA? They aren’t able to get federal assistance?
If the Agudah did not have flood insurance, they are probably out of luck.
Go to http://www.disasterassistance.gov for immediate assistance and then set up a fundraising page on social media sites giving easy access to contributors to help you with paypal etc .Everything will be ok and things will be better than before just have faith in Hashem that everything is for a higher good even if it doesnt seem that way at first.
a paypal donation link is a must, these days
All shuls must have insurance but insurance does not cover floods. For that, you need to purchase a separate flood insurance policy from the Fedral government which not many people do, since when did NY have a flood of this magnitude in recent memory. I guess this kind of storm caught everyone by surprise.
There are websites like click2cause.com that allow you to set up an account for free, you can use paypal or any credit card to collect donations online. They allow you to share it on all your social media on the spot. Someone involved in the shul should set up an acount.
i guess views that express honest torah values are not welcome here juding that my last post was deleted.
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