150 Pounds Of Kosher Food Airlifted To Flooded North Carolina City For Yom Kippur

Image by Getty Images

By JTA September 19, 2018

(JTA) — Jewish families in Wilmington, North Carolina were able to eat a kosher meal before the start of Yom Kippur after the Chabad synagogue in nearby Charlotte was able to arrange the arrival of a helicopter carrying 150 pounds of kosher food.

After days with no contact due to Hurricane Florence, Rabbi Yossi Groner of Charlotte’s Ohr HaTorah was able to speak by telephone to Rabbi Moshe Leiblich of Chabad of Wilmington on Monday. Leiblich requested that he find a way to send kosher food, the Charlotte Observer reported on Wednesday.

A truck full of kosher food sent from Raleigh after the hurricane first hit had been turned away by authorities because of dangerous road conditions.

Groner’s son, Ben Tzion, contacted a friend who is a helicopter mechanic and was able to secure a helicopter for Tuesday morning. It arrived at the airport in Wilmington at 1:30 p.m. carrying kosher chicken and dairy products as well as ready-to-eat meals, which were delivered to families preparing for Yom Kippur, the newspaper reported.

“It was tremendous, and certainly a relief,” Leiblich told the Observer. “It gave us kosher meat until the stores are back to normal.”

The Chabad of Wilmington was expected to be the only one in the city holding Yom Kipuur services, due to the hurricane.

There are between 800 and 1,000 Jewish families living in Wilmington.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

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.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO