In “Lessons of Hurricane Katrina for American Jews”, Karla Goldman compares the Jewish community’s response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. She examines the strategies employed by the Jewish community which allowed them to effectively respond to the needs of Jewish people and other groups impacted by Katrina. Goldman challenges conventional narratives around the impact of disaster on different groups and how resources ought to be distributed in the face of crisis. Specifically, Goldman highlights the racial and socioeconomic class privilege which many within the Jewish community have. She writes that in the face of disaster, the Jewish community must be able to acknowledge its relative privilege and leverage the lessons from prior experience to extend resources and resiliency to other communities. Her work opens up new possibilities for understanding the role of the Jewish community in American life. By contextualizing the Jewish community in times of crisis, Goldman reimagines the “identity and responsibilities of Jews within the broader tapestry of American diversity” (188).

Goldman tactfully evaluates how the Jewish community understands privilege, resilience, and resources in moments of stress. I appreciate Goldman’s careful description of how the Jewish community benefits from socioeconomic and white privilege while still being inclusive towards nonwhite Jewish people and those who lack socioeconomic status. Her intentional language illustrates the diversity that exists within the Jewish community which may facilitate Jewish people extending help to those outside the community. Goldman could have strengthened her call on Jewish communities to offer resources outside the community by invoking Jewish practices and values which resonate with these actions. Specifically, I feel like a discussion of tzedakah and tikkun olam within the context she presents would lead to productive conversations in the Jewish community. Additionally, I felt the scope of Goldman’s analysis of community resilience lacks attention toward the state entity. While Goldman begins by noting that community response to disaster is only necessary due to governmental failures, she fails to follow through on that line of critique. Goldman lauds Black Lives Matters protesters for making their voices heard. However, when suggesting productive responses in moments of crisis, Goldman focuses on short term immediate solutions and does not examine how the Jewish community could advocate for structural improvements to the system. Goldman could improve her argument by considering ways that the Jewish community could widen the scope of strategies they use to advocate for themselves and others. Ultimately, Goldman’s analysis of Hurricane Katrina and Covid-19 provides valuable insight into the carefully developed and resourceful tactics that the Jewish community uses to recover in the aftermath of disaster.

Sources: Goldman, Karla. “Lessons of Hurricane Katrina for American Jews, 2020 Edition.” Jewish Social Studies 26, no. 1 (2020): 181. https://doi.org/10.2979/jewisocistud.26.1.14.