Houston Runs Low On Kosher Food As Harvey Floods Delivery Routes
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Ari Feldman August 29, 2017
As Hurricane Harvey prepares to dump another two feet of water on the Greater Houston area, the city’s Orthodox Jewish community is running low on kosher food. A refrigerated truck filled with kosher meat left for Houston from Miami Tuesday morning, Chabad.org reported. However, it is unclear if the roads will be passable by the time the truck reaches the outskirts of the flooded areas.
“Even for those who were fortunate not to lose electricity, like us, it’s a matter of days until we have no milk and other basics,” Rabbi Yossi Zaklikofsky, of the Shul of Bellaire, a Chabad synagogue in a southwest Houston suburb, told Chabad.org.
Harvey flooded two main supermarkets that carry kosher foods, while another has been turned into a shelter for displaced people.
Houston is not a supply center for kosher food, and many Orthodox residents make large co-op orders of kosher food every three months. The next shipment is expected September 4th.
“If we don’t get food down here this will become a big problem fast,” Rabbi Zaklikofsky said. “Are we surviving? Yes, for now.”
Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
