NEW YORK (JTA) — A New Orleans synagogue destroyed by Hurricane Katrina will break ground on a new building.
Congregation Beth Israel, a century-old congregation destroyed by the 2005 storm, will mark the occasion on Sunday at a new location five miles from its former home.
"Since Katrina, our job has been to rebuild a sense of community within our congregation," Rabbi Uri Topolosky said in a news release. "Now we have to build a building and give our family a home."
Beth Israel’s old building absorbed 10 feet of water during the hurricane, which destroyed swaths of New Orleans. Its contents, including thousands of prayer books and seven Torah scrolls, also were lost.
The land for the new synagogue was purchased from a nearby Reform congregation, Gates of Prayer.
