September 2, 2005

OU’s Multiple Response to Katrina Includes Fund Drive, Dispatching of Fact-Finder to Memphis to Prepare for Future Action, and Sending NCSY Advisors to Assist Rebuilding of Lives

Responding in multiple ways to the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, the Orthodox Union has established a fund to aid victims, sent a special representative to Memphis to investigate the situation of the New Orleans residents who fled there, and assigned youth advisors to assist the work in Memphis.

The OU announced, together with the Rabbinical Council of America and Yeshiva University, that it will serve as a conduit for funds, for communities and families affected by the hurricane. All money collected will be dispersed directly to those in need and no overhead costs will be taken.

Contributions may be made through the OU website, www.ou.org, or by sending a check, payable to the Orthodox Union and marked “Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund,” to Orthodox Union, 11 Broadway, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10004. “Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund” should be written clearly on both the check and the envelope.

According to Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, OU Executive Vice President, “We are reaching out through our national network of rabbinic lay leaders, youth advisors and synagogue members, to ascertain where help is needed.”

The OU has dispatched Rabbi Chaim Neiditch, Regional Director of the Atlanta-based Southern Region of the National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY), on a fact-finding mission to observe the situation in Memphis and to report back to OU leadership who will decide on the organization’s specific responses.

Regarding those who were evacuated, Rabbi Neiditch said, “There is a sense of despair and worse – every single possession is lost, jobs are gone, they are separated from family and friends, they have no means of communicating with each other. It is beyond comprehension what is going on. Their lives are in pieces. The Jewish community in Memphis is trying to help them by identifying their needs and trying to assist them.”

Likewise, the OU, working with Yeshiva University, is sending National Conference of Synagogue Youth advisors to Memphis “to roll up their sleeves, give spiritual support and do whatever has to be done,” with young people and families, according to NCSY National Director Rabbi Steven Burg.

“Encouraging our NCSY advisors to travel to Memphis isn’t as much a choice as an obligation,” declared Rabbi Burg. “Helping the Klal (community) is at the core of our NCSY values.”

Rabbi Chaim Neiditch, Regional Director of Southern Region, NCSY; Shimon Kaminetzky, Executive Director Margolin Hebrew Academy/Feinstone Yeshiva of the South; and Jeffrey Feld, Executive Director, Memphis Jewish Federation, discuss options for aiding the New Orleans Jewish refugees in Memphis.

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The Orthodox Union, now in its second century of service to the Jewish community of North America and beyond, is a world leader in community and synagogue services, adult education, youth work through NCSY, political action through the IPA, and advocacy for persons with disabilities through Yachad and Our Way. Its kosher supervision label, the , is the world’s most recognized kosher symbol and can be found on over 400,000 products manufactured in 83 countries around the globe.

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