Evacuation- Facebook Post on January 10, 2025

Half of the year, we live in Los Angeles at the bottom of a beautiful hill. It is often 72 and sunny, even in the winter months. When we first started looking for a place to live here, we were amazed that houses were built on cliffs and driveways were so steep that we could never navigate them in the snow. And then, I remembered there is no snow. (Confession: I miss the snow!! When we come back I will be praying for a blizzard.). Southern California is known as an ideal location with no humidity and little rain. But, those very conditions are responsible for the devastation that surrounds us right now. With no humidity and severe winds, fires rage.

Fires surround us in every direction here in Los Angeles. One is five miles away, another ten miles away. Thankfully, for now, we are safe and so are our kids. The winds earlier in the week raged from 60-90 mph. I had never seen those kinds of winds unconnected to a hurricane. And the winds kept the helicopters and planes from being able to treat the fires from the air. So, the fires are raging all around us. Everyone knows someone who has lost everything. Two vibrant cities are gone, and one synagogue has burned to the ground in a fire so hot that the metal structure melted. I know of five rabbis who have been reported to have lost their homes with so many others.

Our primary congregation was only blocks away from a new fire. The rabbi sent out a call that the temple would be open for shelter, food, WiFi, and safety. Isn’t that what congregations do in crisis? Our new congregation has many people who were evacuated, and we were notified that the temple building is closed for safety, and because they have no electricity. Our third LA congregation’s rabbi sent me a text to ask if we were safe. How nice was that? His congregation is in the fire zone and has been in danger before. Every one of our rabbis has reached out saying that they are available for anyone in need or crisis.

School is canceled city-wide. The roads are empty. Many businesses are closed. Los Angeles as we know it won’t be the same for a very long time. But, for now we are safe, and I thank God for that. But, we have to say “for now.” And we have felt so loved as the emails, texts, and messages pour in. People care and we love them for that.

We took an inventory of our house and packed “to go” bags, as so many Angelinos have done. The LA Times has a list of what we should pack. It is not easy to walk through your house and decide what is so valuable that it is worthy of being saved, as a human life is saved. There are things on the list I wouldn’t have thought of. Moments like this make the Unetaneh Tokef of the High Holy Days (“Who by fire…) so very real. My son calls. One of his close friends lost his house and everything in it.

And yesterday, we got a warning on our phones to evacuate. I can’t describe the fear and the panic. We put together a few suitcases of essentials and things we wouldn’t want to lose, but most of our lives here will burn if the fire comes our way. I can’t tell you what it is like to cram your life into a few bags and suitcases, knowing all the rest of what you are looking at could go up in flames. I went from a sense of security to the craving for safety in 30 seconds. Then, they took back the warning, but we are leaving the suitcases packed. There is no going back to feeling safe, so we are headed back to Virginia in the morning.

Today is the Tenth of Tevet, a traditional Jewish fast day commemorating the beginning of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.E. that eventually led to the destruction of the first Temple in Jerusalem and the exile of our people from our sacred homeland. We Jews know about fires that destroy the world as we know it. Being uprooted is in our DNA. But, as we conclude the book of Genesis this Shabbat with the portion Vayechi, we are reminded that we survive to tell our story. We live to love, and laugh, and cry yet another day. We are survivors, because we help one another in times of need, and we take what is most precious when all our possessions are lost. We are sustained by love and family, Torah and tradition, our community and congregations.

This Shabbat, walk around your home, your neighborhood, your congregation, and see it all through thankful eyes. Savor with gratitude the blessings that surround you. God-willing, this Shabbat, we will sit as a family, and we will be grateful and resilient, and prayerful for all those who have lost so much this week here in our adopted city.