The National Weather Service lifted a blizzard warning for New York City early Tuesday after a severe winter storm veered eastward overnight, with heavy snows of four to five inches per hour falling on eastern Long Island, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Islip-MacArthur Airport on eastern Long Island registered 18.2 inches of snowfall as of 5 a.m, and wind gusts of up to 70 mph were reported at Nantucket Memorial Airport in Massachusetts.
Although New York and New Jersey had issued precautionary states of emergency prior to the storm’s arrival that effectively shut down the metropolitan area, including schools, airports and public transportation, it appeared that both states would be spared the brunt of the storm. Heavy snows, high winds and extremely dangerous conditions were expected to continue throughout the day in areas to the north and east.
As word spread yesterday of the impending blizzard, Chani Benjaminson sent her husband out on a mission to pick up some last-minute groceries and extra matches, in case the power went out.
He came home without them.
“They were all out of matches,” she says, adding that “the store was pretty packed with customers, but the shelves were pretty empty.”
Benjaminson, co-director of Chabad-Lubavitch of the South Coast in North Dartmouth, Mass., with her husband, Rabbi Aaron Isaac Benjaminson, has been through snowstorms and Nor’easters before, but “not one as bad as they are predicting this one will be.”
According to the National Weather Service, the blizzard of January 2015 is expected to dump several feet of snow on the upper Atlantic Ocean corridor, coupled with winds in excess of 50 miles an hour. Drifts are expected to be more than 4 feet high.
The blizzard will be “difficult” and “dangerous”—a storm that “should not be taken lightly, and could affect health and safety,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said early Monday afternoon.
Nonessential employees in New York and New Jersey were sent home early Monday afternoon, and everyone was ordered to stay off the roads; in fact, New York City declared it illegal to drive after 11 p.m., saying a summons would be issued to anyone doing so.
By Monday evening, highways across the region were shut down. Thousands of flights in and out of the Northeast were canceled for Monday and Tuesday. Broadway shows and professional sporting events were also called off as governors across the region declared states of emergency.
Wanted: Shovels and Salt
People spent Sunday and the better part of Monday stocking their homes with basic supplies as they kept their ears tuned to news of the impending weather.
Shlomie Baitch, who has worked at Hardware Express True Value on East New York Avenue in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., for the past 10 years, says snow-related equipment has been “flying off the shelves,” specifically shovels and 50-pound bags of calcium chloride.
One caller, he notes, asked for a bobsled. (They didn’t have one.)
Why does everyone seem to wait until the last minute to buy such items? “People store them or use them, or don’t know where they put them,” says the Crown Heights resident, talking quickly so he could get back to customers.
When asked if he recalled the worst snowstorm in New York history, he didn’t miss a beat. “Four years ago, when my son was born,” he says of the blizzard that walloped the U.S. Northeast. “We had arranged the bris in shul, but the caterer couldn’t come, so we moved it to the house. It was January 10.”
When he went home for lunch today, he says, that same son was jumping in the snow.
As of early evening on Monday, several inches of snow had fallen, followed by a lull that lasted hours.
Help for Seniors
With storm totals in some areas of Long Island expected to top three feet and wind conditions forecasted as “life-threatening,” Rabbi Levi Gurkov, co-director of Chabad of Oceanside, N.Y., with his wife, Soshie, posted a reminder on Facebook to watch out for others.
“If you have elderly neighbors, please make sure they enough heat and food. Their caretakers, food and medicine may not arrive due to the weather. They made need your help,” wrote Gurkov. He also provided a phone number in the event that anyone needed help, adding: “If you know of an elderly neighbor or friend and think they may need assistance that you cannot provide, please call us … we will assist them.”
It’s advice he takes to heart.
The Gurkovs and their congregants spent the day before the storm helping prepare older community members through Chabad’s “Smile on Seniors” (SOS) program.
For instance, volunteers checked that program participants who use home-heating oil had full tanks, and that people with health aides prevented from coming because of storm conditions would have someone else to look in on them.
As for others who may need assistance, Gurkov says: “We are stocked with food and enough provisions if anything happens and there is no electricity. We experienced Hurricane Sandy, so we have generators and ample emergency equipment,” like flashlights and blankets.
As the first flakes started flying Monday, schools shut their doors early and many announced closures on Tuesday, knowing they were in for a storm some are already calling “historic.”
Among schools that will be closed on Tuesday is the Chabad Early Learning Center in Manhattan.
“We make it a point not to shut down the preschool, even in bad snowstorms,” explains Sarah Alevsky, co-director of family and youth programming at Chabad of the Upper West Side in New York City with her husband, Rabbi Chayim B. Alevsky. “In the past, parents have brought kids to school on their sleds.”
In light of the fact that New York public schools announced their closure and sidewalks may simply be too impassable, the preschool followed suit.
Alevsky notes that she was planning to take a group of Hebrew-school students, in kindergarten through second grade, to the Museum of Natural History on Tuesday as part of a project focusing on “ways to see things that Hashem created,” but that, too, has been canceled.
“We’ll do it again,” she reassures. In the meantime, “we sent home snowy-day activities the kids can do with their parents at home.”
Virtual learning will be the order of the day for participants of a weekly class sponsored by Chabad in Mineola on Long Island, N.Y.
“Because of storm, we will be using a live-stream broadcast to teach our weekly lunch-and-learn on Wednesday at 12:15 p.m.,” so people can watch it at home, says Rabbi Anchelle Perl, co-director of Chabad in Mineola with his wife, Bluma.
After all, he instructs: “TNT—Torah never terminates.”
Kids See the Upside
Snowstorms, particularly blizzards, can wreak plenty of havoc, but some see an upside to it all. Children are just waiting for the chance to play outside, and parents have been watching their kids excitedly getting their winter gear together.
“We have six children at home, ages 6 months to 20 years old, and they made sure that the sled is right by the door,” says Gurkov. “They are revved and ready to go … they are eager to make igloos and get off from school.”
There are adults in the mix as well, just waiting for the white stuff to fall in full force.
Chanie Kamman and her husband of two months, Rabbi Yossi Kamman, live in Brooklyn, but decided to ride out the storm at the home of her parents—Rabbi Tuvia and Chaya Teldon, co-directors of Lubavitch of Long Island in Commack, N.Y. The rabbi is also director of the Jewish Academy in Suffolk County on Long Island.
“Instead of being locked up in an apartment in Brooklyn, we may as well enjoy having a fireplace and having a real snow experience,” says Kamman, adding that some sledding may be part of the plan.
Snowstorms, according to Chani Benjaminson in Massachusetts, “are a gift from G‑d. It gives us time to spend with our children without too many distractions, and a chance to study and do things we ordinarily do.
“When the world is white,” she goes on to say, “it gives our mind a blank space. It’s easier to learn and fill it with positive things. I’m looking forward to it; at the same time, I’m praying that the power won’t go out for anyone in the Northeast, and that everyone should be safe.”
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