You may not have noticed it in the mainstream media, but the Hurricane Harvey-wrought devastation in Houston has encouraged a massive food and assistance drive from Jewish organizations across the country to help residents there.
For example, overseen by Season’s Supermarket, huge collections of food supplies have been collected in the tri-state area. Hundreds of volunteers were on hand in Passaic and other cities on Sunday night to load trucks with boxes of supplies and food items headed for Texas.
Included in the shipments were contributions from several companies including Quality Frozen Foods, Mehadrin, J&J, Reisman’s Bakery, and Dagim. The deliveries were made to a Chabad command center at Chabad Outreach in Houston which has been converted into a soup kitchen, supply pantry, and emergency help station for any one in need.
In addition, Jews from all walks of Orthodox life closed their businesses and went down to Houston to offer their help. Yosef Mutterperl, who owns South Side Sandwich Shop in Lakewood, New Jersey, traveled to Houston to cook meals with Howard Chaim Goldfeder of Texas Kosher BBQ.
If this sounds dramatic, it is. Indeed, as the full story emerges we should all make sure it isn’t ignored by the general media. There is no shortage of negative media attention when Orthodox Jews are involved in criminal or other objectionable activity. A spotlight on the positive (which far surpasses the negative) is only fair.