The Story of a Young Family’s Survival of Deadly Storm

“For almost two days, I couldn’t contact my brother Benny,” writes Zvi Hershcovich, editor-in-chief of Bill 613, a Montreal Jewish community news website. Zvi describes in great detail the harrowing ordeal of his brother and sister-in-law, Rabbi Benny and Sonia Hershcovich, who recently survived a devastating hurricane that ravaged the town of Cabo S. Lucas, located at the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, where they serve as Chabad emissaries.

From Bill 613 by Zvi Hershcovich:

For almost two days, I couldn’t contact my brother Benny. My family, and many in the Lubavitch world community, were extremely worried for the safety of a rabbi and his 9-month-pregnant wife and three kids who had disappeared following a hurricane that battered the city of Cabo, Mexico with 116 mph winds.

The story begins several years when my brother, his wife Sonia, and their children moved to Cabo San Lucas to serve as Chabad Shluchim (rabbi). I was the rabbi of Stavropol, Russia at the time and was extremely proud of my brother for moving to the tourist destination to build the infrastructure of a Jewish community.

Over the next couple of years, I was thrown out of Russia together with several other rabbis and my brother opened a Jewish centre in the tourist section of Cabo. In the next few years my brother helped many Jews out of sticky and sometimes desperate situations, organized kosher food for tourists and locals, and made personal connections with hundreds of Jews living in and around Cabo.

Last year, Rabbi Alexander Piekarski and his wife moved to La Paz, a city about two hours by car from Cabo to build the Jewish community in that beautiful resort.

None of us really knew about the coming hurricane. There wasn’t much warning in Cabo either. Most people expected a tropical storm, as the meteorologists were predicting. Word spread only a few hours before the arrival of the what would be the worst hurricane in Cabo’s history that people should prepare for the worst. My brother raced to Costco, where he snapped the following photo. He stood in line for more than two hours and arrived home where he shared it with my family in our Whatsapp group.

Then, the tempest began. On September 14, at 7:31 PM PST, Benny updated us on the storm: “we had some fireworks right outside our apartment when some electric wires went haywire.” He soon sent the following video of his children describing the early hours of the hurricane to their online classmates (as there’s no Jewish school in Cabo, his children study online together with children of rabbis in other remote parts of the world. Their teacher lives in New York City).

What followed was a traumatic night for Benny and his family, and a scary night for my family as we divided up chapters of Tehillim (Psalms) to read for their safety. Electricity went down quickly but phone access would last through the storm, and Benny kept us updated through the night as he huddled with his family in a small closet. Here are some more messages:

9:22 PM: Cabo is taking a real beating. The kids are terrified, glass is shattering outside all over the place. Windows and doors are shaking to the crazy wind outside. We’re all huddled up in the corner. No electricity… things are rolling around on the roof upstairs… Truly terrifying.

9:24 PM: We’ve never seen such a violent hurricane. The building is shaking but sturdy enough to withhold.

At around 10:00 the storm stopped. Benny notified us that the kids had fallen asleep (later he shared that his daughter had slept with her hands tight over her ears through the night) and that he was going to go outside to inspect the damage.

My brother-in-law was following the hurricane over the internet and told Benny to be quick, because the storm wasn’t over. “You’re in the eye of the storm,” he wrote.

At 10:15, Benny wrote: went out with Sonia to survey the damage. Will take pictures tomorrow, our building is hurt.

Here’s another video he sent us that had been taken during the storm:

The storm abated around 12:45 PM and Benny shared the following message: we are traumatized but glad to be ok. It’s a miracle that not much happened to out apartment.

Benny and I are extremely close. He is my only brother, and with a two year age gap, we grew up together and are best friends. The next day he occasionally called, reaching my parents and his brother-in-law Rabbi Mendel Polichenco who serves as the Rabbi of Tijuana, Mexico. He told them that his apartment itself suffered no damage and reports are that he won’t have water or electricity for 15 days. He spent the day wandering Cabo, looking for members of the Jewish community. During his search he found one Jew who was badly injured when a door came smashing down on his hand. Benny helped get the man into surgery where his hand is being reconstructed. He also reported that property damage to homes near the ocean was severe. Most of the Kosher food in Cabo was ruined. There was no water for the toilet (instead, he later told me that a cistern in the basement of his building was full of water. They were lugging buckets upstairs to use for washing hands and face and for the toilet).

Then the news blacked out. We didn’t hear from Benny for about 16 hours. People tried contacting my brother with no luck. That’s when a popular Chabad site sent out notice that he was missing. Other news outlets picked up the story too. Rabbi Polichenco quickly organized a 4×4 vehicle full of supplies (including two generators) which he sent out for a 20 hour drive to Cabo.

When the news hit, everyone in the family started receiving phone calls. My sisters went online and contacted every Facebook contact of Benny’s who lived in Cabo. The only ones who responded were the ones outside of Cabo who were looking for their relatives too. For a while we were worried. Another round of Tehillim was split up. Then, my mother received a call from a woman in Toronto, whose son was with Benny and Sonia in Cabo. He had contacted her somehow to tell her that there was some gas in his home and that the family was safe. He said they were going around giving out food to disadvantaged people.

We still worried. Shmully Lazaroff, a friend of Benny, composed the following song. It’s words were a huge comfort to us. Click here to listen.

On September 17th I received a call from Benny. He had been out of contact for almost two days. He didn’t have much time to talk, but he told me that his wife and kids were on their way to the airport to meet a helicopter that would transport them (and other members of the Jewish community in Cabo) to Mexico City.

Wednesday night we heard from Benny again. Sonia had decided to take the kids to La Paz (which didn’t suffer damage like Cabo) and stay in a hotel room that had been organized by Rabbi Piekarski. The military helicopter had transported many Jews from Cabo to Mexico City. My mother booked a flight for early Thursday morning to La Paz where she will help Sonia care for the kids.

Thursday afternoon Benny called. He finally had time to talk. He spoke about the “social suicide” of the looters who had gone through every store and bank in Cabo leaving further damage in their wake. He told of cars broken into, stolen motorcycles and people living in fear.

On Tuesday, powerlines and phone lines had been hit just north of Cabo. Power is still out but they have fixed the phone lines (perhaps temporarily). He spoke about the unbearable heat and the pitch black darkness. He told me he is leaving to La Paz to take Sonia to the hotel and meet my mother. He is also going back and forth transporting Jews to La Paz.

The Israeli Consulate had sent him names and information of residents in Cabo. They asked him to go to their addresses and help transport them to La Paz. Benny traveled around the city meeting people and helping them. Everyone he met was desperate for help. Some were millionaires, but without any cash or water or non-perishable food or gas they were worthless. “Right now a gallon of gas is worth more than a BMW,” he said. Benny distributed non-perishables he had. “Lots of Matzah,” he said.

He had been given the name of an Israeli girl. The address: one of the luxurious hotels. When he got to the hotel he had to wade through mud that smelled like waste for 20 minutes. He lost his shoes in the mud, and held up his Tzitzis through the nightmarish walk. Eventually he made it through the entrance and found over a thousand people inside. All of them desperate for help. He wandered through the crowd calling her name but never found her. You can imagine his walk back.

The Jews who left inside the military helicopter, and the ones who are getting rides to La Paz, where the Jewish community has set aside food and lodging to welcome them, are not permitted to take any luggage beyond a handbag with them. Benny is collecting their luggage and dragging it all into the Chabad House and his home to eventually be sent around the world to their proper owners.

He also visited some of the wealthier members of the community, living in their billion dollar homes. Some of their homes were destroyed, yet most refuse to leave. They worry that the looters will come after them when food and water is scarce, but they refuse to be taken to La Paz. May G-d protect them.

In Benny’s area, a “citizen’s watch” has been organized. A perimeter set up. Benny is supplying members of the watch with supplies, food and water. I was in Cabo last summer (feature photo was taken in Cabo). Across his apartment building live a bunch of druggies. Benny was worried they’d join the looting and target their neighbours. Instead, they are the ones coordinating the citizen’s watch, and he’s established a rapport with them. They stand guard with machetes. Everyone is waiting for the Mexican army to enter Cabo and restore order before things get worse.

Rabbi Polichenco’s 4×4 is expected to arrive tonight. Once the generators are hooked up, Benny will establish a humanitarian base where people can come rest, drink cold water and charge their phones.

He also expressed his gratitude to Rabbi Polichenco for sending the 4×4 and organizing all of the help. “On Tuesday I was running around the city and when people asked me for help I didn’t know what to tell them,” he said. “When I got phone service I called Rabbi Polichenco and the first thing he told me was that a truck was already on its way full of supplies. You can’t imagine the feeling of loneliness and helplessness and responsibility that is suddenly replaced with a realization that help is on the way.”

At the moment, I am trying to get on a flight. If anyone would like to help, please send your donations through Paypal to hershky84 at yahoo dot com (no tax receipt through Paypal unfortunately) or through the form on this link. If you would like to travel to Cabo to physically help, please contact Rabbi Mendel Polichenco through his email. And everyone can help by doing an extra Mitzvah.

UPDATE: There is currently no possible way of getting into Cabo or La Paz before Shabbos, and therefore I will remain in Montreal, at least until after Rosh Hashana. I want to thank Miles Marketeer Inc for dropping everything and spending the day working on sponsoring a ticket to Cabo for me.