That big storm, ok hurricane that violently wrecked havoc in Northeastern Queens, NY, ripped through my old neighborhood in Bayside. My Shiloh neighbor, Hillel Levin sent me a link to pictures. Judah S. Harris the photographer photographed the neighborhood, Main Street, where my cousin and I ate before my most recent flight back to Israel. It's also where my husband and I sublet an apartment the summer we got married until we made aliyah.
The map included here is the map of my childhood haunts. For thirteen years I lived in Bayside, which as you can see is right in the middle of the mayhem. I'd walk to Fresh Meadows for the library, Bloomingdales and movies. When I was thirteen we moved to Great Neck, but the eastern part, closer to Manhasset, just east of what's indicated as the end of the affected area.
That was the second strong hurricane that hit that area in the past few months. No, if you're asking if it's an area that generally has a hurricane season. Nobody ever heard of hurricanes on Long Island before. My family has lived there a very long time. The earlier hurricane was in late June, when my sister flew in to get my mother. Middleneck Road, Great Neck's main commercial street was badly affected, and it took my sister hours to find my mother who had been in the beauty parlour.
It's really strange how weather has changed there. In recent winters there have been ice storms, also a totally new weather phenomena for the area.
4 comments:
I have been through some earthquakes and tremors here in Israel but never through a tornado.
The closest I got was arriving in a southern US town for a business trip one day after a tornado passed through. It was much worse than these pics. Tree weren't only knocked over; they were crumbled into splinters. The trees looked like cookies stepped on by Godzilla, as he passed through the town.
Shivers.
Never having lived in a place with that sort of weather, I don't know the difference between hurricanes and tornados. I've felt the tremor of a mild earthquake here but felt more shook up when there were explosions next to our Jerusalem apartment to dig out for a new building.
We had a small tornado come through tiny Spring Glen in the Catskills when I was a child. I'll never forget it. Luckily, only a few signs were pulled out of the ground but it was terrifying.
The Torah tells us that everything happening the world over happens for the sake of Am Yisrael. We've had so many unearthly events this year the world over: sudden mudslides covering up entire villages; horrific earthquakes and floods killing thousands and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.
Perhaps Hashem is hinting to us that those in Galut should skedaddle home to Israel now and that we should all do teshuva? Perhaps Ben David is about to make an appearance soon? Halevi! Chag Sameach to everyone!
The area hit has lots of Jews and a few Orthodox neighborhoods with lots of kosher grocers and restaurants. Yes, they should take the hint.
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