disaster

Devastated California communities fight fire with light

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Rabbis across California made clear their determination to help people in need while dealing with the ongoing devastation that uncontrollable blazes have brought to their hometowns.

“Paradise is a part of our community,” said Rabbi Mendy Zwiebel of the Northern California town where more than 30 people have been killed as the Camp Fire decimated structures in its path. “We had people over for Shabbat who lost everything. This wasn’t expected. On Thursday morning, we woke up and heard [about the fire]. In just a few hours, the whole town was wiped out.”

“One woman told me that she grabbed her siddur and her Chumash, and drove through the flames” to escape, the rabbi said.

As many as 8,000 firefighters were reported to be battling the wildfires as of Monday, when the death toll surpassed 40, with 200 people still missing. More than 250,000 evacuated in the past few days. As of Tuesday morning, a reported 6,800 homes had been destroyed by the fires.

“The city of Chico opened their doors to their neighbors, and everyone who evacuated found places to stay at friends’ house. People donated clothing and food, and the Red Cross is helping out. For the time being, people’s needs are being dealt with,” said Rabbi Zwiebel.

“They can’t move back home tomorrow; there’s nowhere to move back to,” he said.

Nearly 500 miles to the south, residents of Malibu, Thousand Oaks, Oak Park, Calabasas, Westlake Village and other nearby towns are waiting to find out if they still have a home. As of Sunday afternoon, fire had taken two lives, destroyed some 177 homes and burned 83,400 acres. With a “Red Flag Warning” in effect and heavy winds expected over the next 36 hours, the danger is far from over.

“Most people are in total shock right now,” said Rabbi Levi Cunin. “It takes just a few minutes for a house to be completely burned down.”

Rabbi Cunin himself hasn’t been home in days. He and his family left on Friday after a mandatory evacuation order, taking the congregation’s Torah scrolls with them. He and his family have been staying at Chabad of Pacific Palisades a few miles down the road.

“It’s really devastating, but we are praying for the best,” said Cunin. He had just come from visiting a city councilman who was hospitalized for smoke inhalation and was in the ICU.

Rabbi Yitzchok Sapochkinsky, co-director of Chabad of Westlake Village, said his family was evacuated at 2 am on Friday morning, just hours after hosting a conference call for teens in the area to give them support and guidance after the Thousand Oaks shooting. Though people can’t understand why the massacre happened or why the fires are burning, Sapochkinsky told the teens: “G-d is in charge of the world, and our concern needs to be love and tolerance. I encouraged the kids to show indiscriminate love.”

Rabbi Sapochkinsky and his family are staying with family in Rancho Mirage, 140 miles away.

Shula Bryski, co-director of Chabad of Thousand Oaks, said that dark times highlight “the most beautiful parts of human nature.”

“It is almost a cliché to say we are supposed to fight darkness with light,” she said, “but we when we think about it, our job is to uplift the people around us with goodness. It’s an incredible antidote to pain and despair.”

With the mandatory evacuation order for their neighborhood lifted, the Bryskis went home to lend a hand to those in need.

That they returned so quickly isn’t a surprise to Thousand Oaks resident Cathy Cole, who works as an oncology nurse.

“I’ve known Rabbi [Chaim] Bryski for 18 years and rely on him every day,” she said. “I don’t think he’s slept in days.”

She said the last few days have been extremely tough on people in her town. Still, like others, Cole said she’s seen good come from the bad. “Everyone is asking, whether you are in a store trying to buy groceries or at work, ‘How are you? Is your house OK? Do you need anything? Everyone is going out of their way to help strangers.”

Despite the devastation, Rabbi Bryski feels G‑d is watching out for people. For instance, he said, the Ventura County fire chief, Mark Lorenzen, put on tefillin for the very first time in his life just hours after the deadly massacre and just hours before the start of the fire.

“I feel like G‑d set it up that he should have success and that no lives should be lost here,” said Rabbi Bryski, adding that in the last few days, he’s seen “how much goodness there is in this country.”