metro >> on the cover
Awash In Water
Flooded Detroiters find aid through agencies and synagogues.
Stacy Gittleman I Contributing Writer
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
volunteer crews as large as 100 to help
with debris cleanup and tearing out dry-
wall and waterlogged flooring materials.
McGilvery said his organization expects
to stay in town for at least two weeks or
maybe longer depending on the need.
"A natural disaster like this is something
new to us:' said Dan Trudeau of Jewish
Family Service in West Bloomfield. "We
are relieved to have the expertise of an
organization like Nechama that could
mobilize and put together tremendous
relief efforts as quickly as they did:'
Trudeau said within the first days fol-
lowing the flooding, JFS received phone
calls from nearly 50 community members,
most JFS clients, experiencing flood-relat-
ed problems and requesting help cleaning
out their basements flooded with sew-
age backups. Callers also reported loss of
major appliances, furnaces and hot water
heaters. Trudeau said he expects the num-
ber of incoming calls to increase.
"Our family case management supervi-
sor said they had 10 calls in 45 minutes on
Thursday afternoon:' Trudeau said. Most
came from families in Oak Park and a few
from Southfield and Huntington Woods.
Last week, streets in these areas were
deluged with huge piles of sour-smelling
debris at the ends of driveways awaiting
Suzanne Rosenthall's basement in Huntington Woods
city garbage pickup.
Rabbi To The Rescue
Rabbi Robert Gamer, also of Huntington
Woods, found it a challenge to care for his
congregants at Congregation Beth Shalom
in Oak Park while he also cleaned his fam-
ily's flooded basement.
In the days following the storm, he spent
mornings in shorts and a T-shirt ripping
out basement flooring and hauling a ruined
couch to the curb before changing into
more rabbinical attire to comfort congre-
gants who recently lost a loved one as he
officiated at a funeral. He also spent a great
amount of time reaching out to his congre-
gants, most living in Huntington Woods.
According to Gamer, around 40 to 50
families of Beth Shalom had flooding.
Prayer books in basements may have been
water-damaged, so Beth Shalom is collecting
prayer books to ensure they receive a proper
burial in a Jewish cemetery rather than end-
ing up in a landfill with other debris.
"We were disappointed that some of
our siddurs and mahzors were lost in the
flood:' said Daniel Cherrin of Huntington
Woods. "However, I am grateful to
Congregation Beth Shalom and Rabbi
Gamer for providing the valuable service
of properly taking care of damaged prayer
books. It provides a difficult but great
lesson for me and my children in dealing
with damaged religious items:'
Gamer said, "It has been an emotional
week. It has been hard on my young chil-
dren. We lost some major appliances. We
lost some wedding and baby pictures of
our kids; but in the end, we are fortunate.
There are many much more worse off than
we are:'
On Sunday afternoon, Gamer invited all
to come together for a hot dog roast, right
in his driveway. Beth Shalom supplied the
hot dogs, drinks, chips and watermelon.
(See page 14.)
Rabbi Aaron Starr at Congregation
Shaarey Zedek said 35 congregants
impacted by the flood attended a Shabbat
dinner at their shul. The CSZ Sisterhood
as well as Quality Kosher Catering spon-
sored the dinner.
"Our affected congregants worked
Awash on page 10
Taking The Plunge
Wedding goes on while guests fight flood waters to arrive.
I
Roche! Burstyn
Special to the Jewish News
W
With many, many guests stranded by flooding, the wedding went on. Groom Dov
Steier of Toronto is escorted by Dr. Ed Hurvitz and Rabbi Shmuel Steier.
8
August 21 • 2014
JI4
hile thousands of people all
over the Metro Detroit area
were getting tied up in knots
about their flooded basements on that
fateful wet Monday, one young couple
was preparing to tie the knot.
Luckily, bride Aliza Hurvitz of Oak
Park and groom Dov Steier of Toronto
arrived at the wedding venue early in
the day on Aug.11 to take wedding pic-
tures. From within the Royalty House
on 13 Mile and Van Dyke in Warren,
father of the bride Dr. Ed Hurvitz,
remembers watching the rain coming
down in sheets.
By 6:30 p.m., he says, they started
getting messages that people were
having difficulty getting to the wedding.
After delaying the nuptials as long as
they could, the young couple were mar-
ried under an indoor chuppah, with only
75 of the few hundred invited guests in
attendance, most of them immediate
family.
Hurvitz says, "I told everyone that
because no one else was there, each
person had to be like five people.
Everyone got into it — you would
have thought 200 people were there.
Everyone was jumping, singing, dancing.
When the newly married couple entered
the hall after the chuppah, everyone
gave it their all. It was so beautiful."
Some of the band members were
unable to get through the flooding, so
one of the groom's friends joined the
band for the night.
The real story came later, hearing
about the effort people went to to try
and come to the wedding," Hurvitz says.
Taking The Plunge on page 12