2005

With cities like Jackson, Miss., and Baton Rouge, La., experiencing an immediate doubling of their populations, congregations are working to provide services to New Orleans residents. Bert Rubinsky, who is one of the coordinators in Jackson, said there are already about 75 Jews from New […]

The Birmingham Jewish community has launched a coordinated effort to assist those displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The community’s congregations, Birmingham Jewish Federation, N.E. Miles Jewish Day School, Levite Jewish Community Center and Collat Jewish Family Services have banded together to cooperate in the effort. The […]

Many in New Orleans’ Jewish community are in Houston, which is the new staging area for the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans. According to Lee Wunsch, Chief Executive Officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, there has been a tremendous response from around […]

Despite being two blocks from the beach, Biloxi’s Beth Israel is still standing, though heavily damaged. Mid-day today, there were no problems getting to Biloxi on the Interstate system, though U.S. 90 from I-110 westward is generally passable on one side or the other — […]

The Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans has set up a temporary home at the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, and plans to become an email clearinghouse and set up a bulletin board on its website. Anyone with information on evacuees from New Orleans — […]

Beth Israel Congregation, which was situated two blocks off the beach in Biloxi, was reportedly “very damaged” by Hurricane Katrina. The only Conservative congregation in Mississippi and the only synagogue on the Mississippi coast, Beth Israel is located behind the President Casino and Treasure Bay […]

Congregation Beth Israel in Jackson, Miss., is back up and functioning, according to office manager Ellen Alexander. Jackson had 90-mph sustained winds during the hurricane, but was to the west of the eye. There were widespread power outages, and the congregation just this morning had […]

The Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Utica, Miss., is hosting about 150 evacuees from the New Orleans area. Among the evacuees are residents of the Louise Davis Developmental Center for Adults with Cognitive Disabilities, which designated the camp as its evacuation site after the 2004 […]

BIRMINGHAM — Rabbi Cynthia Culpeper, the first pulpit rabbi to announce being diagnosed with AIDS, died the morning of Aug. 29 after a 10-year battle with the disease. Culpeper, 43, was diagnosed after coming down with thrush shortly before her first High Holy Days after […]