Equipped with only “tact, wit and faith,” Milwaukee native Rabbi Levi Shmotkin landed on Sept. 7 in Baton Rouge, La., with the goal of saving lives.
The 23-year old son of B. Devorah and Rabbi Yisroel Shmotkin also brought and distributed 3,000 self-heating kosher meals, sustenance for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Shmotkin and Rabbi Mendel Druk of Oak Park, Mich., arrived nine days after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast as the first of several teams sent by Lubavitch World Headquarters in New York.
Shmotkin’s focus during his one-week stay in Baton Rouge and New Orleans was offering comfort and counseling, and coaxing individuals to leave their homes during the mandatory evacuations.
He also helped coordinate distribution of the two tons of supplies that had been brought by the chaplain New York’s Chief Medical Examiners Office. Shmotkin worked one-on-one with people, organizing transportation for those destined for family’s homes elsewhere, and arranging for homes and jobs for those with nowhere else to turn.
“Through the federations or through Chabad houses, we gathered names and addresses of relatives or friends who were missing. We sent our search and rescue teams to go check out the addresses and bring people to safety,” he said.
Within a matter of days, Shmotkin’s work turned to recovery of Jewish bodies. “We were working in utter chaos and madness,” he said.
‘Hatikvah’ as prayer
Two incidents stand out from Shmotkin’s time with the search and rescue team. In one home, he found two men with their seven dogs and a parrot. In spite of the evacuation orders, the couple refused to leave their home.
Shmotkin persuaded the men to leave by promising that the Jewish community would take care of them and they would not go to a shelter. Shmotkin then arranged for temporary housing for them and their pets.
As he stood outside the couple’s home next to his borrowed truck waiting for the men to finish packing, the last rays of light began to fade and night approached.
Suddenly, a Humvee filled with National Guardsmen passed, then turned around and returned to Shmotkin.
“I was certain that we were in trouble,” Shmotkin said. “New Orleans was still dangerous and under a curfew.”
To his surprise, a sergeant hopped out and asked Shmotkin for help in evacuating a 65-year old Jewish man from his nearby home.
The man’s sister had called the National Guard, but the man, a single professor with arthritis, refused to evacuate. The sergeant did not have the heart to force him out and take him to a shelter.
Shmotkin took the man’s name and address. “Imagine his surprise when he saw this Chasidic rabbi standing in front of him,” Shmotkin said. “He was shocked.”
The man had survived on a jar of peanut butter and water for eight days. He told Shmotkin that during the hurricane, he was certain he would die. He prayed by singing “Hatikvah,” the only Hebrew words he knew.
The man finally agreed to leave with Shmotkin. On their ride out of the city the man said, “If you hadn’t come to get me, I would have stayed in my home. No question. If the National Guard or police had come, I would have gone down fighting. I didn’t want to go to a shelter or any other place they would have taken me.”
Soon after they arrived in Baton Rouge, Shmotkin arranged for the man to fly to his sister’s home in Boston.
Shmotkin was helped rescue Torah scrolls from a flooded synagogue, Congregation Anshe Sfard. The Federal Emergency Management Agency assembled a special task force, including Shmotkin, to remove the scrolls. A five-vehicle convoy maneuvered through downed power lines, uprooted trees, destroyed property, roadblocks and fermenting muck.
“It was a powerful experience,” Shmotkin said. “Our escorts were delighted to have a hand in helping the Jewish people recover such sacred possessions. They clamored to take pictures with the five Torahs.”
‘Neshoma shines through’
Shmotkin was uniquely equipped for the challenging operation, according to Rabbi Mendel Scharfstein, coordinator of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts at Lubavitch World Headquarters.
“We wanted someone who had traveled extensively and had previous experience walking into difficult situations. We knew that Levi could walk into a chaotic and stressful situation, assess what was needed and get the job done,” he said by telephone from his New York office.
Shmotkin has traveled to 15 countries, including Thailand, where he worked for several weeks with local community leaders after the December 2004 tsunami.
According to Shmotkin the human tragedy of this experience is far greater than the actual destruction of property.
“The Jewish community was very fortunate,” he said. “I did not find any Jews living in a shelter. Most of the New Orleans Jewish community was able to relocate to family or find a place to live and work in other communities.”
Shmotkin was particularly impressed by the relief and rescue efforts he witnessed there. “The outpouring of compassion and volunteerism regardless or race, religion, or creed was pretty amazing. It was individual people who got things done and did incredible things,” he said.
Moreover, it again revealed the power of the soul, he said. “It was one more example of how a neshomah [soul] shines through no matter what type of situation a Jew is in.”
“Life is precious and there is tremendous human resilience,” he continued. “Your home may be gone, you may have lost everything, but you can be grateful for your life, for your family.
“You realize the things that may have been dear to you are not really priorities. There is more to life than our possessions.”
Milwaukeean Liza M. Wiemer is author with Benay Katz of “Waiting for Peace: How Israelis Live with Terrorism” (Gefen Publishing, 2005).
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