Jewish communities, like others across the state, are taking steps to address their own needs. In Dallas, one of the two Jewish senior residences in the region lost its main power and backup power generator, forcing staff to quickly move residents to the other senior center in the area – fortunately there was a space, which just opened recently is.
Two Orthodox Jewish emergency response units, Hatzalah of Dallas and the newly formed Texas Chaverim, both founded by a local resident, Baruch Shawel, sent out patrols to help residents with dead car batteries, medical emergencies and other problems.
“It was quite wild out here,” said Hannah Lebovits, a professor at the University of Texas-Arlington, living in an Orthodox community in northern Dallas, about the ongoing eclipses, which are accompanied by other problems such as loss. to heat and water pressure. “Fortunately in the Jewish community, we often quickly create our own systems of mutual aid.”
Still, Lebovits said: ‘That should not be Chaverim. It must be the city of Dallas knocking on my door and looking at me. ‘
Also in Houston, Jewish leaders rely on the coordination foundation that was laid long before the unusually cold moment began. Traumatized by the raging Jewish response to Hurricane Harvey’s devastating floods, the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston convened the Jewish Response and Action Network early. 2020, even before the pandemic.
‘After Harvey, each office gave its own response. They made their own food. It was not coordinated, ”said Jackie Fisherman, director of the network and government affairs of the Houston Federation. “We thought there had to be a better way.”