One of the many things I love about Judaism is our traditions. We seem to have “something” for every occasion. I’ve been reflecting on this as we approach the one-year anniversary of the Eaton and Palisades Fires that forever changed not just the landscape of Southern California but the community as a whole.

Our tradition teaches us the importance of xkf (zachor… to remember), and it is one of the reasons we mark a yahrzeit, the yearly anniversary of a loved one who has passed away. For many in our community, tonight marks a yahrzeit of sorts for what was lost one year ago, who are still working not just to continue rebuilding their homes and their lives, but also to come to terms with what they’ve experienced and have had to go through during this last year.

This Sunday, our Jewish Federation will be holding its 31st Annual Meeting. During the meeting, we will take a look back at the ways we supported our local Jewish community members during this horrific event. In light of this, I thought I would use this week’s column to share some of the ways our Jewish Federation worked to support our community members when they needed it the most.

• Once our office got power back, following the windstorm, we opened our doors to PJTC/B’nai Simcha staff so they had a place where their entire staff could be together and work. In addition, we had fully equipped computer stations for each staff member, so they were ready to work.

• Rebecca Russell, our Program and Community Outreach Director, and Lori Eisenberg, our Social Work intern who started on January 12, have continued to provide ongoing support and case management to fire-affected community members. This has included sending regular emails with resources and making phone calls to check in on people. They offered and provided assistance with filing the necessary paperwork for FEMA, insurance companies, and city/county permitting.

• We coordinated a Judaica Match effort so community members could try and replace the exact Judaica items they lost in the fire. We did this by working with volunteers, including our former camp director, who lost their home in the 2021 Marshall Fire in Colorado.

• For our PJ Library families, we worked with the Harold Grinspoon Foundation to send them a new library of books to replace the ones they lost. The books were sent to us and delivered by our staff directly to our PJL families. We also delivered Shabbat kits and other resources to affected families.

• Our Jewish Federation was invited to be a part of the Eaton Fire Collaborative, a collection of nonprofits in the greater Pasadena and Altadena community that banded together to support the community’s relief effort. In addition, Rebecca was elected to be part of the Eaton Fire Collaborative Leadership Council, representing the Jewish community and helping provide guidance and assistance to the ongoing rebuilding efforts.

• We provided Camp Gan Shalom for free to Jewish households affected by the fire. Over 20 families took advantage of this opportunity to send their children to Jewish summer camp this past summer.

• At the end of June, we held a Judaica Replacement event that over 40 households came to and looked through the donated items, trying to replace some of the Judaica they lost, or that had been damaged.

And one final effort that is personally one of my favorite things we did was to have a special mezuzah commissioned and delivered by board and staff members, as a gift from our Jewish Federation on behalf of our entirecommunity, to Jewish households that lost their homes. I personally worked with MyZuzah, a national Jewish organization that strives to place a mezuzah on every Jewish home, to provide a kosher scroll with each mezuzah.

Tomorrow, as well as the days that have led up to this moment, will be difficult. I hope everyone is comforted knowing that the importance of community and the power it provides were clearly evident and on full display this past year.