{"id":38294,"date":"2017-09-07T23:01:42","date_gmt":"2017-09-08T05:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=38294"},"modified":"2017-09-07T23:01:42","modified_gmt":"2017-09-08T05:01:42","slug":"hurricane-irma-was-no-match-for-this-mikvah-on-st-martin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/hurricane-irma-was-no-match-for-this-mikvah-on-st-martin\/","title":{"rendered":"Hurricane Irma was no match for this mikvah on St. Martin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By GABE FRIEDMAN<\/p>\n<p>(JTA) \u2014 It was 5 a.m. Wednesday and Hurricane Irma was pounding the tiny Caribbean island of Saint Martin. Rabbi Moishe Chanowitz and his wife, Chana, the Chabad movement\u2019s emissaries there, gathered their five children and hunkered down in an unlikely place: a mikvah.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_38296\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/st-martin.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-38296\" class=\"wp-image-38296 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/st-martin-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/st-martin-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/st-martin-768x506.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/st-martin.jpg 880w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/198;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-38296\" class=\"wp-image-38296 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/st-martin-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/st-martin-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/st-martin-768x506.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/st-martin.jpg 880w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-38296\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some of the wreckage wrought by Hurricane Irma on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, Sept. 6, 2017. (Lionel Chamoiseau\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>According to the Chanowitzes, as told on Chabad.org, the ritual bath helped save their lives.<\/p>\n<p>The storm killed at least eight people on St. Martin and a councilman told Reuters that 95 percent of the 34-square-mile island was destroyed. Irma\u2019s winds reached around 180 miles per hour and decimated trees and homes, flinging cars around in its wake.<\/p>\n<p>Even though the Chanowitzes\u2019 Chabad center building was sturdy and built into the side of a mountain, the storm had them rightly terrified. By 4 a.m. Wednesday, the front door of the building had flown off.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou could hear it; you feel the pressure in your ears,\u201d Moishe Chanowitz said. \u201cI thought the windows would explode at any moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With more wallboards flying away, the Chanowitzes fled to the center of the building and into the mikvah. It\u2019s still under construction but crucially has an outer wall and a door. The family pushed a commercial freezer in front of the door.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_38295\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Irma.St_.Martin.02.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-38295\" class=\"wp-image-38295 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Irma.St_.Martin.02-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Irma.St_.Martin.02-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Irma.St_.Martin.02-768x506.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Irma.St_.Martin.02.jpg 880w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/198;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-38295\" class=\"wp-image-38295 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Irma.St_.Martin.02-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Irma.St_.Martin.02-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Irma.St_.Martin.02-768x506.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Irma.St_.Martin.02.jpg 880w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-38295\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The door of the Chabad center in Saint Martin blew off when Hurricane Irma passed through. (Chabad.org\/News)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe have hurricane-proof doors and windows; it\u2019s not like we weren\u2019t prepared,\u201d Chanowitz said. \u201cBut this was off the charts. The mikvah saved us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Around 10 a.m., the family and hundreds of neighbors finally ventured out into the disheveled landscape. Most had similar stories. One friend told the Chanowitzes he survived by hiding in a closet.<\/p>\n<p>For now, the Chanowitzes, along with the rest of Saint Martin, are left without electricity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe damage is unimaginable,\u201d Chanowitz said. \u201cBut we\u2019re going to rebuild.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The hasidic Chabad movement is known for its outreach around the world and has emissaries in nearly 100 countries.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Hurricane%20Irma%20was%20no%20match%20for%20this%20mikvah%20on%20St.%20Martin\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":38296,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8930,8790,8795,8788,8933],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38294"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38294"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38297,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38294\/revisions\/38297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}