{"id":416884,"date":"2010-03-11T11:32:18","date_gmt":"2010-03-11T16:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogs.rj.org,2010:\/rac\/\/2.2545"},"modified":"2010-03-11T16:15:11","modified_gmt":"2010-03-11T21:15:11","slug":"jews-responding-to-the-earthquake-in-haiti-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/416884","title":{"rendered":"Jews Responding to the Earthquake in Haiti"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AmySchwartzman.jpg\"<\/span>Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church, Virginia is looking beyond the headlines in thinking
\nabout how best to form their communal response to the recent earthquake
\nin Haiti. This week, TRS’s senior rabbi, Amy Schwartzman, shares a guest post about the connection her congregation is building with Haiti. Rabbi Schwartzman currently serves the President of the Rabbinic Alumni Association of HUC-JIR and has been recognized nationally for her social justice work.<\/i> This post first appeared on A Blog of Continuing Jewish Learning<\/a> and is republished with permission from HUC-JIR.
<\/i><\/p>\n

When we arrived at the Haitian embassy to meet the Ambassador and
\nhis wife, there was little to indicate the devastation and loss of life
\nthat the earthquake had left in its wake.  Apparently weeks before
\nhundreds of people stopped by the tiny embassy, trying to leave
\ndonations or find out if families and friends were known to be alive.
\n But now it was silent. No passers-by, just a sign on the door to say
\nthat they could not accept any goods in kind.   The building is dwarfed
\nby the surrounding embassies.  They are grand and imposing. Perhaps
\nthis slim and modest building is appropriate for the poorest country in
\nthe Americas. Inside the furniture is classically European but the art
\nis spectacularly Haitian – it left me a bit confused until I met the
\nAmbassador and his wife.<\/p>\n

His Excellency Raymond Joseph, Ambassador to the United States from the Republic of Haiti,<\/a>
\nis a joyful, intelligent, sharp amalgam of Haitian culture and the ways
\nof the west.  Born and raised in Cayes, Haiti, he is mostly known as a
\njournalist. In the 1960’s he was a radio personality. In the 70’s and
\n80’s he was at the Wall Street Journal in New York as a financial
\nwriter and co-founded the Haiti-Observateu<\/a>r,
\nthe first crusading commercial Haitian weekly.  In 1990 Mr. Joseph was
\ncalled to be Haiti’s Charge d’Affaires in Washington and his own
\ncountry’s representative at the Organization of American States.  After
\nhelping with the first democratic elections in December of 1990, he
\nreturned to the Haiti Observateur where he remained until he was called
\nto Washington in 2004 as the Ambassador.<\/p>\n


Cantor Tracey Scher, Rabbi Amy Schwartzman,
\nMrs. Lola Possion-Joseph, Ambassador Raymond Joseph, Rabbi Jeffrey
\nSaxe, Cantor Michael Shochet<\/font><\/center><\/p>\n

You can imagine what a wealth of experiences this man brings to a
\nmeeting. Members of the Temple Rodef Shalom clergy sat down with the
\nAmbassador and his equally engaging and articulate wife, Lola Poisson-Joseph<\/a>,
\nto discuss how we might embark on a joint venture to help repair
\nHaiti.  While the weight of his nation and its deep tragedy sat on his
\nshoulders, the Ambassador regaled us with stories that connect Haiti
\nwith the Jewish people. He talked about Haiti’s vote to support the creation of the State of Israel<\/a>.
\nHe told stories about welcoming Jewish refugees after WWII. He shared
\nhis knowledge of Torah and his love of Hebrew!  Finally, we spoke about
\ncreating a project to restore a community in his country.<\/p>\n

Lola Posson-Joseph, a social activist and artist, has a relationship with a town outside of Port-au-Prince called Petit-Guave<\/a>.
\nShe had been working on building a shelter there for the poor members
\nof the community.  She painted a splendid picture of this town, its
\nhistory and its citizens. It is filled with a rich culture and teaming
\nwith human potential.  We agreed that our goal would be to rebuild at
\nleast one central institution of Petit-Guave – the shelter, the only
\nschool or the 300 year old church, which also functions as a community
\ncenter.<\/p>\n

On February 16th the Ambassador and his wife came to Temple Rodef
\nShalom to participate in a service of solidarity and hope for Haiti.
\nThe Ambassador updated the congregation about the relief efforts. Mrs.
\nPoisson-Joseph talked about Petit-Guave and helped us to imagine how we
\nmight help. The day of our service, there were no pictures in the paper
\nabout Haiti.  Support efforts by doctors and builders and emergency
\nworkers were still under way but for many, in our safe and comfortable
\nhomes, the story of the earthquake has passed.  Some have moved onto
\nother issues in the world. Those who came to our service affirmed that
\nHaiti, and its need for our support, is still very much alive.  As
\nformer President Bill Clinton recently wrote: “Haiti can surely move
\nbeyond its troubled history and this lethal earthquake to emerge a
\nstronger, more secure nation.  But that can’t be done with government
\nsupport alone. Ordinary citizens must fill the gaps.”<\/p>\n

We are those ordinary citizens and our Jewish tradition and
\ncommitment to tikkun olam <\/i>calls us to not only offer comfort to the
\npeople of Haiti but to offer our resources, our creativity, our time
\nand our energy to restore this nation.  As our rabbis taught – “it is
\nnot for us to complete the task, but neither are we free to refrain
\nfrom engaging with it.” (Pirke Avot<\/i> 2:21)


Church in Petite Guave before the earthquake<\/font><\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church, Virginia is looking beyond the headlines in thinking about how best to form their communal response to the recent earthquake in Haiti. This week, TRS’s senior rabbi, Amy Schwartzman, shares a guest post about the connection her congregation is building with Haiti. Rabbi Schwartzman currently serves the President of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4316,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-416884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416884\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}