Orthodox Volunteers Shake Off Prohibition To Help Harvey-Stricken Churches
Volunteers with ZAKA, a search and rescue operation run by Israeli Orthodox Jews, are helping repair Houston churches damaged by intense flooding during Hurricane Harvey, reported Breaking Israel News. The decision to help the churches breaks with a custom against entering Christian houses of worship that many Orthodox Jews adhere to.
ZAKA chairman Yehuda Zahav told BIN that there was a “religious imperative to help, since every man was created in God’s image.”
The volunteers are helping with the restoration of Gulf Meadows Church, which is in an area of Houston that reported several dozen rescue requests during the storm and subsequent flooding.
“Throughout history we stayed far away since the church presented both spiritual and physical threats to our people,” said Rabbi Weisz, the publisher of Breaking Israel News. “Nevertheless, Yehuda Meshi Zahav didn’t hesitate to send the Ultra-Orthodox ZAKA volunteers to assist the Gulf Meadow Church suffering from the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.”
“We are blessed and privileged to number one have anybody come from Israel, but secondarily to have religious people come with shoulder to shoulder help, we are honored beyond belief,” the church’s pastor, Becky Keenan, said.
Contact Ari Feldman at feldman@forward.com or on Twitter @aefeldman.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.