New Jersey Jewish News
Editorial

Recovery for the Gulf

Barely a week goes by when this newspaper doesn’t report on a Jewish group or individual heading south to assist in relief efforts for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Synagogues have packed trucks with supplies, emergency workers have lent their expertise to police and fire departments, and a local synagogue pledged to distribute Passover food packages to the elderly and indigent Jews who somehow remain in the devastated city.

These grassroots efforts are essential and admirable, but the region is in need of the kind of relief that can come only from a huge investment by the federal government. President Bush has proposed $19.8 billion in supplemental Hurricane Relief funding. The spending includes grants for housing, shelter, and medical assistance; disaster loans; and infrastructure repairs such as reinforcing the levees, canals, and pumping stations that defend the city from the sea. Some $300 million has also been included to restore the natural areas, the coast and the wetlands, that were damaged in the storm.

Jewish organizations responded to Katrina with an outpouring of charitable aid. Now the citizens of the Gulf Coast need some of our political support as well. The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism is urging speedy passage of the funding, as should we all. “President Bush’s funding request plays an essential role in bringing back New Orleans,” wrote RAC director Rabbi David Saperstein. “We know that other actions will be necessary in the days and weeks ahead, but this can be a step toward a real, sustainable recovery.”

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