Chabad Centers Offer Refuge Amid Raging Wildfires

On either side of them, houses burned.

While the fires tearing through the Los Angeles area have left several dead, and entire communities in ruins, Chabad has boots on the ground.

“The rabbis and rebbetzins spent most of the day yesterday up in the fire zones trying to assist people,” said Rabbi Chaim Hanoka, of Chabad of Pasadena. “They’re helping to put out fires at the homes of members of our congregation. We’re also doing welfare checks and bringing food and snacks to the residents who were up there, as well as firefighters and law enforcement.”

The elderly and the disabled are especially vulnerable and needy, and Chabad shluchim are providing them with food, shelter and other critical support.

“We are currently setting up a City of Refuge — for lack of a better term — at Chabad of Pasadena,” said Rabbi Hanoka. “We are offering food, meals, coffee, clothing, counseling and a place to stay for anybody who needs it.”

The devastation is staggering. “Hundreds of homes have burned to the ground. More than 100,000 people have been evacuated — for a city like ours, that’s a lot of people — and we’re doing whatever we can, day and night, to help them out.”

Although Chabad of Pacific Palisades sustained extensive damage to outbuildings and storage areas, it hasn’t stopped the shluchim from setting up a command center at its main facility. 

“Right now one thing we can really offer is emotional support,” said Rabbi Sholom Diskin of Chabad of Pacific Palisades. “We’re talking about complete destruction; it’s unreal what happened. Most people don’t have houses, most people are just in shock.”

Diskin is fielding calls and helping others even as he faces personal devastation: his own home burned down. 

“We’ve been in touch with all our congregants over the past few days, checking in on everyone,” said Rabbi Avi Cunin of Chabad of the Palisades Village. “Almost everyone’s homes are burned.”

Cunin recalls seeing a middle-aged woman and her son frantically running down Sunset Boulevard. They’d had to abandon their car as the flames spread. Cunin urged them to come into the Chabad House. “We ended up driving them out of harm’s way,” Cunin said. 

Further north near Pasadena, Rabbi Mendy Grossbaum of Chabad of the Crescenta Valley is mobilizing local teens with an eye towards launching an effort to help clean up fire-damaged homes once conditions permit it. “We are waiting for everything to settle down first,” he said. “The fires are still raging.”

As entire neighborhoods lay in ruin, the scenes are surreal. “It’s been overwhelming; the devastation is absolutely horrible and beyond belief,” Hanoka said. “But I have no doubt that Hashem will give all of us the strength to rebuild; not just to rebuild but to rebuild bigger and greater.”