{"id":61116,"date":"2018-12-04T16:11:57","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T21:11:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=61116"},"modified":"2018-12-04T16:11:57","modified_gmt":"2018-12-04T21:11:57","slug":"memphis-yeshiva-students-take-part-in-hurricane-relief-effort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/memphis-yeshiva-students-take-part-in-hurricane-relief-effort\/","title":{"rendered":"Memphis Yeshiva Students Take Part In Hurricane Relief Effort"},"content":{"rendered":"

In addition to my role at the Young Israel of Memphis, each morning, I’m also privileged to teach Torah at the\u00a0Cooper Yeshiva High School for Boys\u00a0(CYHSB).\u00a0On Wednesday, November 14th, I joined the Yeshiva’s 9th-10th graders to take part in a hands-on Chessed (kindness) mission that none of us will soon forget. Less than a month before, Hurricane Michael had wreaked havoc when it tore through Decatur County, Georgia\u00a0<\/span>(see<\/span>\u00a0HERE<\/a>\u00a0for an eye-opening short news report)<\/span>. O<\/span>ur school eagerly partnered with\u00a0Nechama<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>(a Jewish natural disaster relief organization)\u00a0and assisted homeowners in Bainbridge, GA who were still reeling from the hurricane.<\/p>\n

\"\"
CYHSB students Benjamin Siegel and Nadav Goldkin help clear debris from a hurricane damaged property in Bainbridge, GA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We left Memphis and drove to Dothan, Alabama (named for the locale where Josef was sold into slavery —\u00a0Genesis 37:17<\/a>) to spend the night. After an early Thursday wake-up call, we re-boarded our vans for the final hour-long drive to Bainbridge, GA — where we recited our morning prayers and ate a quick breakfast before getting to work.<\/p>\n

We were shocked by the devastation.\u00a0Tall pine trees had been snapped in half by the\u00a0more than 100 mile per hour winds that roared through the area.\u00a0Bright blue tarps still covered many of the wind-battered roofs of the homes we passed.\u00a0<\/span>Long irrigation systems (like<\/span>\u00a0THESE<\/a>) were upended in many of the farm fields we drove by.<\/span>At one point, I stopped our van to take in the sight of a metal shed which was now perched high up in a tree.<\/p>\n

Our students split up into two groups to help at two different homes. The group I worked with assisted at a property that had been badly damaged by toppled trees. The family’s car had been smashed — downed trees rested atop their home and garage as well. Since so many fallen trees blocked the driveway, unfortunately, no crews had been able to begin repair work on the house.<\/p>\n

As professional teams from Nechama and\u00a0AmeriCorps<\/a>\u00a0used their chainsaws to cut through the fallen trees, the students and I spent the entire day hauling logs, branches, and debris down the long driveway to the curb for eventual pickup. Was everything back to normal by the time we left that property? Not even close. Nonetheless, we soothed our sore muscles knowing we had played a significant role in the effort to make that family’s home whole again.<\/p>\n

During the long drive back to Memphis that Thursday night, I thought of Rabbi Tarfon’s famous teaching (Pirkei Avos 2:16):\u00a0\u201cIt is not incumbent upon<\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"
Rabbi Males and his team after a full day’s work: Bottom row (l-r): Shmuel Weiss, Zev Bosin, Rabbi Akiva Males, Shahar Cahana, Nadav Weiss, Elyashiv Cohen (of Memphis’ Kollel Torah Mitzion)
Top row (l-r): Benjamin Siegel, Noam Cahana, and Nadav Goldkin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

you to finish the task, but neither are you free to absolve yourself from it.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0No, we didn’t complete the task in Bainbridge, GA. However, we certainly played a great role in moving that task towards completion — and for that, we all felt\u00a0satisfied.<\/p>\n

Thank G-d, we’ll soon celebrate Chanukah with our families and friends. There’s a lesson in the miraculous victory of the Chashmona’im (Hasmoneans)<\/p>\n

over the mighty Yevanim (Syrian-Greeks) that goes beyond Rabbi Tarfon’s teaching. Rabbi Tarfon taught us the importance of getting engaged in a\u00a0worthy\u00a0project. Knowing at the outset that we won’t be able to finish the task at hand should never discourage us from accomplishing whatever we’re able to do.<\/p>\n

\nThe Chashmona’im, however, taught us to never belittle the portion of the project we think we’ll be able to complete — no matter how small and insignificant that may seem. After all, that minuscule band of Kohanim (Temple priests) were extremely limited in their ability to fight against the mighty armies of the Yevanim. No one would have thought they had the ability to succeed. Nonetheless, once they put in their effort, G-d miraculously enabled them to achieve their goal of liberating Israel from its\u00a0oppressors.<\/p>\n

May the lights of Chanukah inspire us to begin the grandest of projects — no matter how daunting they seem. And like the Chashmona’im, may G-d enable us to achieve all that we set out to accomplish.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

________________________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Young Israel of Memphis\u2019 Rabbi Akiva Males can be reached via email at:\u00a0rabbi@yiom.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In addition to my role at the Young Israel of Memphis, each morning, I’m also privileged to teach Torah at the\u00a0Cooper Yeshiva High School for Boys\u00a0(CYHSB).\u00a0On Wednesday, November 14th, I joined the Yeshiva’s 9th-10th graders to take part in a hands-on Chessed (kindness) mission that none of us will soon forget. Less than a month<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133382,"featured_media":61119,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\nMemphis Yeshiva Students Take Part In Hurricane Relief Effort - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/memphis-yeshiva-students-take-part-in-hurricane-relief-effort\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Memphis Yeshiva Students Take Part In Hurricane Relief Effort - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In addition to my role at the Young Israel of Memphis, each morning, I’m also privileged to teach Torah at the\u00a0Cooper Yeshiva High School for Boys\u00a0(CYHSB).\u00a0On Wednesday, November 14th, I joined the Yeshiva’s 9th-10th graders to take part in a hands-on Chessed (kindness) mission that none of us will soon forget. Less than a month\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/memphis-yeshiva-students-take-part-in-hurricane-relief-effort\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-12-04T21:11:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/carcrash.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rabbi Akiva Males\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rabbi Akiva Males\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/memphis-yeshiva-students-take-part-in-hurricane-relief-effort\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/memphis-yeshiva-students-take-part-in-hurricane-relief-effort\/\",\"name\":\"Memphis Yeshiva Students Take Part In Hurricane Relief Effort - OU Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/memphis-yeshiva-students-take-part-in-hurricane-relief-effort\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/memphis-yeshiva-students-take-part-in-hurricane-relief-effort\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/carcrash.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-04T21:11:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/c9d6a98396de622d0aeca3356b3758ee\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/memphis-yeshiva-students-take-part-in-hurricane-relief-effort\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/memphis-yeshiva-students-take-part-in-hurricane-relief-effort\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/carcrash.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/carcrash.png\",\"width\":360,\"height\":200},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/\",\"name\":\"OU Life\",\"description\":\"Everyday Jewish Living\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/c9d6a98396de622d0aeca3356b3758ee\",\"name\":\"Rabbi Akiva Males\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Rabbi-Akiva-Males_avatar_1539495234-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Rabbi-Akiva-Males_avatar_1539495234-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Rabbi Akiva Males\"},\"description\":\"Rabbi Akiva Males serves as the rabbi of the Young Israel of Memphis\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/akiva-males\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Memphis Yeshiva Students Take Part In Hurricane Relief Effort - OU Life","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/memphis-yeshiva-students-take-part-in-hurricane-relief-effort\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Memphis Yeshiva Students Take Part In Hurricane Relief Effort - OU Life","og_description":"In addition to my role at the Young Israel of Memphis, each morning, I’m also privileged to teach Torah at the\u00a0Cooper Yeshiva High School for Boys\u00a0(CYHSB).\u00a0On Wednesday, November 14th, I joined the Yeshiva’s 9th-10th graders to take part in a hands-on Chessed (kindness) mission that none of us will soon forget. Less than a month","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/memphis-yeshiva-students-take-part-in-hurricane-relief-effort\/","og_site_name":"OU Life","article_published_time":"2018-12-04T21:11:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":360,"height":200,"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/carcrash.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Rabbi Akiva Males","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rabbi Akiva Males","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/memphis-yeshiva-students-take-part-in-hurricane-relief-effort\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/memphis-yeshiva-students-take-part-in-hurricane-relief-effort\/","name":"Memphis Yeshiva Students Take Part In Hurricane Relief Effort - OU Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/memphis-yeshiva-students-take-part-in-hurricane-relief-effort\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/memphis-yeshiva-students-take-part-in-hurricane-relief-effort\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/carcrash.png","datePublished":"2018-12-04T21:11:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/c9d6a98396de622d0aeca3356b3758ee"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/memphis-yeshiva-students-take-part-in-hurricane-relief-effort\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/memphis-yeshiva-students-take-part-in-hurricane-relief-effort\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/carcrash.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/carcrash.png","width":360,"height":200},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/","name":"OU Life","description":"Everyday Jewish Living","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/c9d6a98396de622d0aeca3356b3758ee","name":"Rabbi Akiva Males","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Rabbi-Akiva-Males_avatar_1539495234-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Rabbi-Akiva-Males_avatar_1539495234-96x96.png","caption":"Rabbi Akiva Males"},"description":"Rabbi Akiva Males serves as the rabbi of the Young Israel of Memphis","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/akiva-males\/"}]}},"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133382"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61116"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61120,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61116\/revisions\/61120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}