The Jewish solution lies in community

MY FRIEND AMY was personally impacted by Hurricane Sandy, the deadliest and most destructive hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, but not in the way you might expect. In October that year, when the storm devastated the east coast of the United States, Amy lived in Belle Harbor, a neighbourhood in the New York borough of Queens.

Her home was flooded and her car destroyed. Her elderly parents, who lived nearby, were trapped in their apartment with no electricity or heat.

Within days congregants from North Shore Reform Synagogue, where Amy was working, came to the rescue. They evacuated Amy, her husband and her parents, and brought them to the synagogue. In addition to the relief Amy and her family received, she helped organise the synagogue as a warming centre for local residents who were without power because of the storm.

For a few nights the synagogue even served as an overnight shelter. Within days congregants found new homes for Amy and her parents and helped to furnish them. The community rallied in acts of solidarity and compassion.

At the time, scientists determined that the impact of Hurricane Sandy was worsened by a rise in sea level caused by the changing climate, and they described the storm as a “sneak peak of the future”.  Now climate change is bringing more extreme weather across the globe and directly impacting Jewish communities.

Thousands of Jewish families lost their homes to Hurricane Harvey which brought catastrophic rainfall-triggered flooding to the Houston metropolitan area in 2017. The damage to Jewish institutions was also severe. According to the director of the Jewish Federation, the ongoing recovery will eventually cost $A60 to $A75 million. We also experienced in recent years the burning of summer camps, synagogues and schools in California wildfires.

We still have time to avert the worst effects of climate change. The High Holiday season is an important time to take stock of the size and strength of our Jewish community and recognise that if we commit to get involved, we can have a significant impact. What we can do as individuals may be a drop in the bucket, but as communities we can fill the bucket.

Following decades of research and development in multiple disciplines, solutions are available to halt and reverse damage to the climate. One essential step is a rapid transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy from solar and wind.

For example, in addition to installing solar panels on the roof of our sanctuary, my congregation increased our impact by encouraging members to buy electricity from the first community solar farm in our state. We recently honoured 60 families for taking this important step.

To implement solutions at the speed and scale required, government action is crucial. In the US, the Jewish Earth Alliance is mobilising Jewish communities to bring a moral voice on climate issues to Congress.  Working alongside communities of many faiths, we are pressing our political leaders for an urgent, ambitious, and holistic response. This advocacy can only be effective when individuals join together to get involved.

When I spoke to Amy a couple of weeks after Hurricane Sandy, she told me how grateful she was for the love and compassion she received from the members of her congregation. She had experienced the awesome power of Jewish community. But what we really need is to activate our communities’ sense of purpose and capacity for action to prevent such disasters.

What can your friends and family contribute to building a world that is safe from climate change? How can your community turn this existential crisis into an opportunity to live out your values? What will you do to activate your Jewish community?

We know what we need to do. Let’s join together to do it.