In early January 2025, Los Angeles was hit with disastrous wildfires which have done unimaginable damage, burning over 40,000 acres and causing up to $164 billion of destruction.
The fires had a large impact on Jewish communities in LA; fires in Southern California burnt down the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, its preschool (the B’nai Simcha Jewish Community Preschool), and caused severe damage to a Chabad in the Pacific Palisades.
The Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center members borrowed a new space to congregate, and Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater addressed the congregation, saying, “Judaism is not about space. It’s about people. It’s about community.”
Bina Medjuck-Bruckner, a former Heschel parent who knows many impacted by the fires, explained that Grater used to live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and is close friends with Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s daughter.
Medjuck-Brukcner said, “I’m friends with the former rabbi of the Pasadena synagogue who lost his home to the ground. I know he inspired a lot of people in his community.”
The Pacific Palisades Chabad Center, which also suffered immense destruction, issued a statement, stating, “Times like these remind us how essential it is to come together, and we want to do everything we can to support one another.”
Medjuck-Bruckner added, “My brother lives in LA and my sister-in-law works in philanthropy, so she really has her finger on the pulse of a lot of grass roots philanthropic things, and helps important organizations.”
When hearing about this natural disaster, Heschel’s Environmental Club took on the immediate responsibility of fundraising for the fires. The club set a goal of $1,800, and every day for an entire week after the fires began, members of the club sat in the atrium collecting as many donations as possible.
“I knew I wanted to do something. We had a club meeting and decided that fundraising and raising awareness to help the tragedy in any way we can felt like the best thing to do,” said club leader Zachary Altman.
Just days after the fires began, club members sat in the atrium for an entire week, raising around $600 in just one lunch period. By the end of the week, the club raised $1,566.