World

Perfect Storm

Air Force Guidelines

New Orleans Jews slammed by Katrina.

CHANAN TIGAY
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

New York
dam Bronstone barely slept.
After evacuating New Orleans
and heading west to Houston
on Saturday to avoid Hurricane Katrina,
he had a lot on his mind.
"You're worried about where it's
going to hit," said Bronstone, director
of communications for the Jewish
Federation of Greater New Orleans.
"You're worried about the place you
live in; the place you work; the syna-
gogue I go to, which is near the lake;
the federation,office, which is on a
beautiful campus that's only 3 years old
and is also near the lake. I worry about
where I'm going to be."
Bronstone is among the 10,000-
12,000 Jews from New Orleans and
its environs who are believed to have
fled the city to stay out of harm's way.
He has taken up residence with a
friend who works at Houston's Israeli
Consulate. Other consulate employees
have taken in other refugees from the
hurricane, he said.
It was too early to assess damage to
Jewish sites in the area, including
Touro Synagogue, which bills itself as
the oldest Jewish house of worship in
America outside of the original 13
colonies.
Jewish organizations in the region and
beyond pitched in to help out those
touched by Katrina. A Jewish camp in
Mississippi was opened to New Orleans
residents fleeing the storm.. Nearly 150
evacuees, including some disabled
adults, took shelter at the Reform move-
ment's Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Utica.
Three Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries
remained in New Orleans to help resi-
dents who couldn't leave the city.
While many New Orleans Jews head-

A

ed west to Houston — which under
normal circumstances is a five- to six-
hour drive but, -because of traffic, took
some people more than 10 hours —
others landed in Birmingham, Ala.,
Nashville, Atlanta, Austin and Florida.
The CEO of Houston's federation, Lee
Wunsch, invited Bronstone and the New
Orleans federation's executive director to
use his organization's facilities. "I wanted
to be able to go in and get some work
done and feel useful," Bronstone said.
"This is the story of kol Yisrael areivim
zeh b'zeh, an expression that means that
Jews look after one another. "In times of
need, Jews always help each other. This is
one of those times." ❑

Disaster Relief

To contribute to Katrina victims:

• B'nai B'rith Disaster Relief
Fund, B'nai B'rith International,
2020 K Street, N.W., Seventh
Floor, Washington, D.C.,
20006; or online at -www.bnaib-
rith.org and clicking on the link
for disaster relief.

• Contributions through United
Jewish Communities can be
made online at www.ujc.org or
by mail: United Jewish
Communities, P.O. Box 30, Old
Chelsea Station, N.Y., 10113,
attention: Hurricane Katrina.
Mark the memo section of
checks with 'Katrina."

• Contributions through the
Union for Reform Judaism can
be made at www.urj.org/give.
Information on the Disaster
Relief Fund: www.urj.org/relief.

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Ritual Defended

New York/JTA— Fervently Orthodox
officials are refusing to abandon a ritual
circumcision practice that may have
caused the death of an infant.
The officials refused despite months
of meetings with New York City health
officials, the New York Times reported.
Health officials believe three New York-
area newborns got herpes; one of them
fatally, from the practice of metzitiah
b'peh, in which the mohel places his
mouth directly on the wound.
"The Orthodox Jewish community
will continue the practice that has been
practiced for over 5,000 years," said
Rabbi David Niederman of the United
Jewish Organization in Brooklyn, after
meeting with New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg.

Bibi challenges Sharon

Jerusalem/JTA— Benjamin Netanyahu
announced Tuesday that he would chal-
lenge Ariel Sharon for the Likud Party
leadership and Israel's premiership.
"The Likud needs leadership that will
bring victory and a principled govern-
ment," said Netanyahu, who recently
quit as finance minister to protest Israel's
withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and
northern West Bank.

Rabbis Give Pizza

Jerusalem/JTA — Rabbis from Israel's
Masorti movement delivered hundreds
of pizzas and sodas to Israeli forces
involved in the Gaza evacuation.
After convincing a pizza store owner
their initial order for 120 pizzas was real,
Rabbis Barry Schlesinger and Andy
Sacks made their first delivery — to a
busload of soldiers on their way into
Gaza. "The gift of pizzas was a small
gesture, but it was enough to make one
soldier tear up," Rabbi Sacks said.
The pizza project was made possible
when thousands of dollars poured in
after an e-mail appeal to rabbis in the
United States. Children from the
Masorti, or Conservative, movement's
NOAM youth group prepared and
delivered 450 packages of candy and
other items to children evacuated from
Gaza.

Israel, Vatican Heal Rift

Jerusalem/JTA — Israel and the Vatican
resolved their dispute over a sermon. by
Pope Benedict XVI that failed to con-
demn a Palestinian suicide bombing.
Israeli officials said over the weekend
that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had
conceded that Jerusalem was too aggres-
sive in its response to the July sermon in
which Benedict failed to mention the
Jewish state in a litany of countries hit by
Islamist terrorists. In return, the Vatican
apologized for the omission, which it
called unintentional, and admitted that
it could have been more sensitive.

Amatunim
Israel's Critics

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Washington/JTA — The U.S. Air Force
issued new guidelines for religious toler-
ance that stress respect for others.
The guidelines, issued by the Air
Force's Washington headquarters, say
commanders should work to comply
with religious accommodations for all
airmen and that individuals need to be
sensitive to the fact that personal expres-
sions of faith might be viewed as official
statements.
The guidelines come after some cadets
at the Air Force Academy in Colorado
Springs, Colo., said they felt pressure to
prioritize military duties over religious
observance, and said the academy had
an overtly Christian atmosphere.

"I believe I can deliver this. I will run
for the Likud leadership and the pre-
miership." Netanyahu, himself a former
prime minister, accused Sharon of turn-
irlg his back on the Likud's founding
principles by ceding land unilaterally to
the Palestinians. •
A Likud primary is expected by year's
end, and while national elections are not
scheduled until November 2006, politi-
cal analysts believe they may be held ear-
lier given the domestic instability creat-
ed by the Gaza withdrawal.

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The Charge

Some analysts have been speculating, following Israel's completion of its dis-
engagements from Gaza and the northern West Bank, that there will be no
further disengagements and that, in fact, Jewish settlement activity in the
West Bank will intensify.

The Answer

Several Israeli media sources have reported in recent days that, riding the
momentum of the successful Gaza and northern West Bank disengagements
and in keeping with a key promise the Sharon government has made to the
Bush administration, all 24 illegal outposts in the West Bank will be taken
down by the army over the next 3 months.

— Allan Gale, Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Detroit