Would ADL and others have Israelis who went to Haiti after the earthquake there refuse to help rebuild a Haitian house of worship? FEMA, Sandy, and human solidarity
Super Storm Sandy did not discriminate. Public buildings, private homes, churches, synagogues, mosques, beaches, parks, public streets, private driveways were all destroyed in its wake. An unusual bipartisan coalition, most notably symbolized by President Obama and New Jersey Gov. Christy, came together to rebuild.
To offer succor to humanity.
To allow people to get back into their homes.
To reopen beaches.
To rebuild roads.
To recover lost time, lost resources, lost stability, lost health, lost neighborhoods, lost landmarks.
The aftermath of Super Storm Sandy has brought people together.
Democrats and Republicans rose to the occasion. Jews of all political stripes rose to the occasion. We have seen Orthodox, non-Orthodox and secular agencies work together and advocate for the victims.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), however, has not risen to the occasion. Nor has a small number of Jewish agencies. FEMA has refused to allot funds to houses of worship destroyed or damaged by Super Storm Sandy. ADL agrees with FEMA. The Religious Action Center is abstaining.
Last week, the House of Representatives rebuked FEMA and by extension the ADL. By the overwhelming majority of 354-72, the House voted to mandate FEMA to extend help to houses of worship.
The House bill was sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith (NJ) — a Republican, and by Rep. Grace Meng (NY) — a Democrat.
Now the bill moves to the US Senate, where it is sponsored by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) — a Democrat, by Sen. Mike Lee (Utah) — a Republican, by Sen. Ben Cardin (Maryland) — a Democrat, and by Sen. Mark Pryor (Arkansas) — a Democrat.
From all regions of the country, from both major political parties, the support for this commonsense measure is expressed.
In extraordinary circumstances, human solidarity trumps political ideology. Super Storm Sandy was, by any criterion, extraordinary. Would the ADL or Religious Action Center instruct Israelis who went to Haiti to refuse to help a Haitian house of worship? Would these agencies oppose the expenditure of funds collected after the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean for houses of worship nearby? If the answer is that the laws are different in the US, this is precisely the point: Disasters on the scale of Super Storm Sandy are human events, not political events. When John Donne penned the line, “No man is an island, Entire of itself,” we don’t think he meant to exclude religious people.
Even within the American political context, FEMA and its allies misunderstand the role played by houses of worship in society. Yes, by definition, houses of worship provide a place for religious expression. And, yes, under the Constitution, government does not pay for religious expression. However, virtually all houses of worship also provide some kind of direct social aid to citizens. Many Reform Jewish houses of worship provide aid to the homeless. Many Orthodox houses of worship provide one day’s worth of food to the poor. Other houses of worship, Jewish and non-Jewish, provide drug rehabilitation programs or other social services.
The governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper, has no problem asking each and every one of Colorado’s houses of worship to work hand in hand with government and to adopt one homeless family.
The penultimate point is this: Taken together, certain activities of houses of worship transcend theology. Houses of worship advocate, represent and embody the human solidarity that it behooves FEMA to support.
There is still another, greater — ultimate — point. In the aftermath of disaster, it is the particularistic comfort extended to citizens by the individual church, synagogue, mosque or other house of worship that is part and parcel of the recovery. We say to FEMA and its supporters: Do not eviscerate man. Do not reduce the human being to a physical shell. Every human being, whether a believer or not, has needs that, in the aftermath of a disaster, transcend the restoration of the physical. If a person has lost his home to a natural disaster, he needs more than another home. He has other needs — call them emotional, call them spiritual, call them psychological, call them what you like. These needs also must be met. In extraordinary circumstances, it is within the right of government, even a government that separates between church and state, to aid the institutions that meet those needs. Those institutions may be religious, such as houses of worship; they may be secular, such as centers for counseling or therapy. They are all part of the recovery. They are all within the purview of government. They are all essential to the human condition.
In helping to rebuild one damaged building but denying help to a damaged building next to it, FEMA and its allies would slice the human being in two; would rob the human being of access to indispensable elements of recovery after a disaster. Whether a pillow comes from a house of worship or a government storage bin, and whether deeper succor comes from a house of worship or a psychological counseling center, they meet the same human need in the aftermath of a disaster.
The ADL, one of our most credible, essential and respected organizations, was big enough to admit it got it wrong after it denied the Armenian genocide. Now it is time for the ADL to admit that it has it wrong when it denies the human essence of the post-Sandy recovery.
The politicians get this. That’s why the rebuke of the FEMA is bipartisan. It is time for everyone else to get it too. The issue isn’t G-d. The issue is humanity.
Copyright © 2013 by the Intermountain Jewish News
