I had originally prepared different remarks to share with you this evening, but in the light of the events of this week, I decided there was really only one subject that has consumed all of our thoughts and prayers. Yet it is difficult to find the words to adequately describe my feelings about this awful tragedy that has struck our brothers and sisters just a little ways to the East.

As I have read, listened, and watched the events taking place in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and other parts of the Gulf coast, I sat in stunned silence trying to assimilate the unbelievable devastation that has taken place. When I saw the huge photograph in Wednesday's Express-News, I just stared at it for a long time, and then kept turning back to it over and over again. For the people of New Orleans, this IS the flood of biblical proportions. It is simply beyond comprehension the amount of work, money, and time it will take to restore this vibrant city to its former luster.

Then, there is the human side of this epic tragedy. While my shock at the physical destruction was just sinking in, I began to hear about the human toll. At first, we heard about hundreds dead in one Mississippi county, and we hoped that that would be the limit…but no, later we heard that the number of dead in New Orleans alone would likely be in the thousands…rescuers having to shove dead bodies aside to try and save the living. We read about individuals trapped in their homes, losing loved ones, clinging to life. The rescue efforts are completely overwhelmed. We fear the worst…that many, many more will die from starvation and disease.

As if this area hadn't suffered enough, the last couple of days have shown that when human endurance is tested, some will revert to unthinkable savagery. What can be going through a person's mind when they fire an assault rifle at a rescue helicopter? How can taking a TV set bring comfort to someone without a home? How intense can the suffering be when refugees storm law enforcement to try and board buses? We simply cannot know the limits of human endurance these poor, stranded people have to experience while we watch helplessly.

I have a lifelong friend with whom I correspond regularly. He is quite certain that every major catastrophe is the signal that the “end times” are near. Although I haven't heard from him this week, I'm sure he is closer in his belief than ever before. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if someone has found a way to make Nostradamus a predictor of this event. I'm also afraid that some will say that Katrina was God's form of retribution for the sins of the Crescent City.

One cannot help but question at this moment, “Where is God when these tragedies strike?” A part of the answer to that question can be found in the Torah readings for this week. In the words of Rabbi Sue Ann Wasserman:

“This week's haftarah, the third haftarah of consolation following Tishah B'Av, opens:

Ah, unhappy, storm-tossed soul, with none to comfort you: I will make garnets your building-stones, and sapphires your foundations. I will build your towers with rubies, your gates with precious stones, your border with gems… (Isaiah 54:11-12)

And further on:

Come, all who are thirsty, come for water; even if you have no money, come buy food and eat: come buy food without money, wine and milk without cost…. Open your ears and come to Me; hearken and you shall live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, [like] the true love I extended to David. (Isaiah 55:1 and 3)

In these words from Isaiah we hear that even though we may suffer from the worst that nature and our fellow humans can muster, God is right around the corner as long as you continue to return to God and have faith in God. These words may be scant comfort to those in greatest need at this time, but it is through this faith that we have been able to survive calamities, destruction, holocaust, and more.

Our faith instructs us that we must be a people of action, performing mitzvot, engaging in Tikkun Olam, the repair of the world. If one ever needed more evidence that our world needs repair than now, I wouldn't know how to provide it. Clearly, we are called to action at this critical time. I am heartened by reading, hearing, and seeing that so many are responding to this call. From direct appeals and links on just about every website, spots on local and national radio and television, corporations opening their coffers to give direct aid, to individuals opening their homes to refugees knowing that they may be there for weeks and even months to come.

How can we help? First, you will note several ways your Temple is already helping in this effort from the announcement sheets distributed to you when you came in. Listed are ways you can contribute to this effort both financially and with your time. Believe me, there will be innumerable ways you can help the displaced over the coming weeks. We also must tuck away in our memories that the need to help will still be around months from now as well. We cannot expect a rapid recovery from this devastating event.

Within our own Reform Jewish family, there are four Reform congregations in the greater New Orleans area. The Union for Reform Judaism website has set up the ability for congregants from these temples to get in touch with each other, share their stories, and reconnect. Some are as yet unaccounted for, but it appears that most are safe. The URJ camp in Utica Mississippi, Henry S. Jacobs camp has been opened for refugees since before the storm hit. Unfortunately, they lost power during the storm, but due to the help from folks in our region including Loui Dobin, Greene Family Camp director, and others a generator was rushed to the camp, prepackaged food was trucked in and they are getting back on their feet. The number of people within our movement responding to the call to action was phenomenal.

There are also ways our youth can help. The URJ's website has links to the NFTY site for high school youth and ways they can help...incidentally, NFTY-Texas Oklahoma Region is having their summer Kallah this weekend at Greene Family Camp, and at least a couple of kids from NFTY Southern which includes the storm ravaged area, are attending the Kallah with ours. NFTY Southern's event was supposed to take place this weekend as well. There is also a link for college students to the Kesher website for ways they can also contribute to the effort.

I would like to conclude with these words, again by Rabbi Wasserman:

We pray these victims of Hurricane Katrina find comfort through their faith in You and through the loving kindness of those emergency workers and volunteers who have come to their aid.

May those who search for missing loved ones be sustained with courage and hope. Strengthen the hands of the rescuers who have been working around the clock to save those who are stranded.

We pray that those who have lost so much have the fortitude to rebuild their lives. Let us seek out ways to help them hew new building-stones and lay new foundations. Let them know that there are many to comfort them-they do not stand alone.

Baruch atah, Adonai, magein Avraham v'ezrat Sarah.

Blessed are You, Adonai, shield of Abraham, help of Sarah.

Amen.

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