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Jewish groups launch relief effort for Maui as island’s Jews are among the evacuated
(JTA) — Jewish groups in the United States and in Hawaii are launching relief efforts following the devastation caused by wildfires that have killed more than 50 people so far.
The wildfires have all but destroyed the town of Lahaina on the island of Maui, which Hawaii’s Jewish governor, Josh Green, toured on Thursday with Brian Schatz, the state’s Jewish senator.
“What we saw today was likely the largest natural disaster in Hawaii state history,” Green said in a statement.
The fires have had consequences for Hawaiians well beyond the fire zone.
“It’s with much gratitude and humility to share that the Jewish Congregation of Maui and its grounds are safe,” the non-denominational synagogue wrote on its website. “However, many in our community have lost their homes, businesses and also a loved one from the devastation of the fires.”
Experts say that higher temperatures and reduced rain as the result of climate change have made Hawaii more vulnerable to wildfires, while changes to agriculture in the state have contributed fuel. The state is the site of the country’s second youth-led climate change lawsuit; brought by 14 teens, mostly Native Hawaiians, the suit against the state’s transportation department got a trial date just days before the fires erupted.
There are 2,000 to 3,000 Jews in Maui, eJewishPhilanthropy reported, with two synagogues: the Jewish Congregation of Maui, which was not in the evacuation zone, and Chabad of Maui, which was.
The rabbis of both synagogues told eJewishPhilanthropy and the Forward that congregants are among those evacuated. Rabbi Mendy Krasnjansky, the Chabad rabbi, told the Forward that volunteers were standing by to reach the synagogue and rescue Torah scrolls, if needed.
The Jewish Federations of North America on Thursday launched a Hawaii Wildfire Fund to bring to the evacuees toiletries, first-aid kits, non-perishable foods, baby supplies and other supplies.
“Not only is support needed in Maui, but people are fleeing to Honolulu where Jewish communal organizations will be working to support those in need,” Alisa Bodner, the JFNA spokeswoman, said in an email.
Rabbi David Kosak of Portland, Oregon’s Congregation Neveh Shalom was vacationing in Maui, in a safe zone. He told his hometown TV news outlet, KGW8, that he had connected Portland’s Jewish community with Maui’s to accelerate assistance to the evacuees.
Portland’s Jewish federation was already on the job, its community relations director, Bob Horenstein, told KGW8, as part of the JFNA’s national effort.
Horenstein noted that Oregon had suffered its own share of wildfires recently. “We can empathize with the people of Maui and the big island and we could be supportive of what their needs are. It’s really important that we respond just from a humanitarian point of view,” he said.
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, left, chats with Sen. Brian Schatz as they survey the damage of wildfires in Maui, Aug. 10, 2023. (Brian Schatz Twitter)
Schatz filed reports from Lahaina, where he was with Green, on social media.
“Lahaina Town has been reduced to ashes,” he said of the historic area. “It’s absolutely heartbreaking. The recovery process will be long, but we’re committed to these families and communities.”
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UN Security Council Meets on Iran as Russia, China Push for a Ceasefire
Members of the Security Council cast a vote during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the 3rd anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at UN headquarters in New York, US, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/David Dee Delgado
The U.N. Security Council met on Sunday to discuss US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites as Russia, China and Pakistan proposed the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Middle East.
It was not immediately clear when it could be put to a vote. The three countries circulated the draft text, said diplomats, and asked members to share their comments by Monday evening. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Britain, Russia or China to pass.
The US is likely to oppose the draft resolution, seen by Reuters, which also condemns attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites and facilities. The text does not name the United States or Israel.
“The bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States marks a perilous turn in a region that is already reeling,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Sunday. “We now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation.”
“We must act – immediately and decisively – to halt the fighting and return to serious, sustained negotiations on the Iran nuclear program,” Guterres said.
The world awaited Iran’s response on Sunday after President Donald Trump said the US had “obliterated” Tehran’s key nuclear sites, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution.
U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that while craters were visible at Iran’s enrichment site buried into a mountain at Fordow, “no one – including the IAEA – is in a position to assess the underground damage.”
Grossi said entrances to tunnels used for the storage of enriched material appear to have been hit at Iran’s sprawling Isfahan nuclear complex, while the fuel enrichment plant at Natanz has been struck again.
“Iran has informed the IAEA there has been no increase in off-site radiation levels at all three sites,” said Grossi, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran requested the U.N. Security Council meeting, calling on the 15-member body “to address this blatant and unlawful act of aggression, to condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
Israel‘s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement on Sunday that the U.S. and Israel “do not deserve any condemnation, but rather an expression of appreciation and gratitude for making the world a safer place.”
Danon told reporters before the council meeting that it was still early when it came to assessing the impact of the U.S. strikes. When asked if Israel was pursuing regime change in Iran, Danon said: “That’s for the Iranian people to decide, not for us.”
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Israel Rejects Critical EU Report Ahead of Ministers’ Meeting
FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
Israel has rejected a European Union report saying it may be breaching human rights obligations in Gaza and the West Bank as a “moral and methodological failure,” according to a document seen by Reuters on Sunday.
The note, sent to EU officials ahead of a foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, said the report by the bloc’s diplomatic service failed to consider Israel’s challenges and was based on inaccurate information.
“The Foreign Ministry of the State of Israel rejects the document … and finds it to be a complete moral and methodological failure,” the note said, adding that it should be dismissed entirely.
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Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’
FILE PHOTO: Pope Leo XIV holds a Jubilee audience on the occasion of the Jubilee of Sport, at St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican June 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi/File Photo
Pope Leo on Sunday said the international community must strive to avoid war that risks opening an “irreparable abyss,” and that diplomacy should take the place of conflict.
US forces struck Iran’s three main nuclear sites overnight, joining an Israeli assault in a major new escalation of conflict in the Middle East as Tehran vowed to defend itself.
“Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility: to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” Pope Leo said during his weekly prayer with pilgrims.
“No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, the stolen future. Let diplomacy silence the weapons, let nations chart their future with peace efforts, not with violence and bloody conflicts,” he added.
“In this dramatic scenario, which includes Israel and Palestine, the daily suffering of the population, especially in Gaza and other territories, risks being forgotten, where the need for adequate humanitarian support is becoming increasingly urgent,” Pope Leo said.
The post Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.