Southerners Find Shelter from the Snow at Chabad

“Nobody realized it would be this crazy,” Rabbi Eliyahu Schusterman said the morning after a snowstorm in the southern United States stopped just about everything.

The snow began Tuesday around noon in Atlanta—more than predicted—and soon, schools began sending kids home. At the same time, city businesses started closing as well, prompting roughly 5 million people to take to the roads.

Massive gridlock ensued. The Georgia Department of Transportation estimated that there were nearly 1,200 accidents and 130 injuries, and at least one weather-related fatality.

Only a few inches of snow fell, but it quickly iced up, so much so that folks abandoned their cars and tried to find shelter anywhere they could. Many school buses were canceled in the afternoon, so teachers and students wound up spending the night in their classrooms.

Rabbi Eliyahu and Dena Schusterman, co-directors of Chabad Intown, closed their preschool early. One teacher, said the rabbi, spent more than eight hours commuting just a few miles home. Some parents were unable able to get their children, while the Schustermans drove other kids home.

Four-year-old Max’s parents were both stuck. His mom, Lisa Preston, spent eight hours in the car and her husband, Brian, spent six hours in his, when each of them decided to leave their vehicles and walk home. The distance and road conditions made it impossible to get to the Chabad preschool.

“We were lucky,” said Lisa, who works for a marketing communications company, noting that many people were stuck on the highway all night. Brian is self-employed and typically works from home, but that morning was out running an errand. “Yesterday was a very unusual day,” she said.

“We were very, very grateful when Dena and the rabbi were able to keep Max for the night. We were worried, but he couldn’t have been in a better place.”

For his part, Max was happy to enjoy a sleepover with his friend Mendel Schusterman, also a student at Chabad Intown Preschool.

When Lisa spoke to her son on the phone, he gushed: “They have trains here, Mommy! Bye!”

“He really had a great time,” she said. “He didn’t even know anything was wrong.”

The next morning, Rabbi Schusterman gave Max a ride to meet up with his parents about a mile from their house since an icy hill prevented him from getting any further. Together, the family walked home through the snow.

Max’s only question to them was: “How come you left your car on the highway, Mommy?”

Opening Homes and Hearts

The Schustermans had received another call from a Dallas couple who happened to be driving through Atlanta when the storm hit. After getting help with their car and realizing that all the local hotels were booked, they looked online and called the closest Chabad House. The rabbi invited the couple to stay at their house.

Chani Silverman with Chabad of Cobb County in Marietta, Ga., nine months pregnant, was stuck in traffic for much of the day with three children when she realized there was no way she was making it home that night. She made some calls and found a nearby Jewish family to stay with.

And in nearby Birmingham, Ala., where snow had the city shut down, Chabad was a real home away from home, with Rabbi Yossi and Fruma Posner, co-directors, and Rabbi Yossi and Miriam Friedman, program directors, making room at home for a half-dozen families and keeping the Chabad center open day and night.

“At 10 a.m., we began to wonder if the weatherman was very wrong about the snow,” said Friedman.

So they decided to close the Chai Tots Preschool, but by noon, it was clear that many parents were simply unable to come get their kids. They rearranged for an extended day of classes and child care.

People began streaming into the Chabad House for coffee, use of the restrooms and even a slice of pizza—for many, the only food they’d had in hours.

“Some folks had walked a long way, some folks had parked safely in our parking lot, and some were just coming in to regroup and make a new plan,” said the rabbi.

And some of the parents who did make it to the Chabad House wound up stranded there and unable to get home.

Dinner was served at 5 p.m.—hot beef stew and steamed rice. “After a second meal of chicken and pasta salad, a lot of pretzels and chips, and working off some energy, some kids were ready to go to sleep,” said Friedman. “OK, maybe it was the parents who were ready.”

Breakfast was served the next morning, as most were staying put until they had a plan.

As for the kids, they seemed happy with the situation. “As far as they were concerned, it’s just another day of school,” noted Friedman. “The teachers who stayed with them overnight and who were back in class with them are simply amazing.”