NOLA Synagogues on Brink

From the Forward:

Before Hurricane Katrina hit, the Shir Chadash Conservative Congregation had $750,000 in pledges from congregants and was planning to update its 1970s-era building in suburban New Orleans. Now, nearly three months after the storm, the city's only Conservative congregation faces a fiscal crisis and is simply hoping to survive.

The synagogue suffered at least $700,000 in water damage — a sum that must be paid in full, since the congregation lacked flood insurance. Monthly dues have been suspended, the vast majority of temple families have not returned home and the ultimate size of the future membership remains uncertain.

"[It's] down to the barebones," said the congregation's executive director, Michael Kancher. "The next two years are going to be tough."

The physical damage to Jewish institutions across the city is significant, as synagogues and religious schools brace for lower numbers and lean times.

The offices of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans, located on the third floor of a brick building in suburban Metairie, survived unscathed and reopened October 17. But the building's first two floors, which house a satellite of the Jewish Community Center and the federation-run community day school, sustained damage from water and mold. In addition to Shir Chadash, Metairie's Reform congregation Gates of Prayer suffered significant water damage, while Congregation Beth Israel, an Orthodox synagogue in New Orleans's Lakeview neighborhood, may have been damaged beyond repair.
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