Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 28, 1994 TAG: 9407280078
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"We've got two of every kind of creature - even two rabbis," Muller suggested.
His clerical comedy roused laughter from the dozen amateur homebuilders who were coated with sticky red mud and drenched to the skin after two hours of hard labor.
They were not launching an ark, but what sponsors say is the second Habitat for Humanity home in the country built exclusively by a city's Jewish community.
Though Habitat was founded as, and continues to be, an unabashedly Christian organization, participation in homebuilding projects by Jewish individuals, congregations and community groups has become increasingly common in recent years, according to a spokeswoman for Habitat for Humanity International.
Given Habitat's ecumenical bent, that probably shouldn't be surprising.
Roanoke's Jewish community has long participated in social-justice projects here, said Rabbi Jerome Fox of Beth Israel Synagogue. Involvement with Habitat was a natural extension of that, Fox said, and has been a "unifying project for the Roanoke Jewish community" - even drawing volunteers from Virginia Tech and the New River Valley.
No work will be done on the Jewish Sabbath - sundown Friday to sundown Saturday - or on Jewish holidays. Most of the work will be done on Sundays, he said.
Muller, rabbi at Temple Emanuel, explained at a news conference the "performance of deeds of loving kindness" was one of three pillars of Judaism. The other duties of study and worship lead the devout to "bring God into the world" through their charitable acts, he said.
The sense of religious obligation was summed up in the group's motto for this project, taken from Psalm 127: "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders toil in vain."
Appropriately, Fox announced, the house is expected to be dedicated Nov. 27, the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah - also known as the Feast of Dedication.
The Roanoke Valley Habitat affiliate is eight years old and has built almost 40 homes. The Jewish Community house is in the newest Habitat neighborhood on Kellogg Avenue Northwest. A total of 14 homes will be built at the end of that street. Eight were begun earlier this summer in a "building blitz" and are now in varying states of completion.
Linda Miller, 29, and her children - Sierra, 4, and Bryan, 6 - will put 300 "sweat-equity" hours into the construction of their new home, working side-by-side with the sponsors, said David Nova, a member of the Habitat board and chairman of the Habitat for Humanity project for the Jewish Community of the Roanoke Valley.
Miller's house payment will be about $200 a month for 20 years, as it is for all Habitat home buyers in the Roanoke Valley. Houses valued at $40,000 to $50,000 can be sold to families for about $33,000 because much of the labor and materials are donated. Buyers make a down payment but pay no interest. Payments are deposited into a revolving fund that supports the construction of more houses.
The Roanoke Jewish Community Council, an umbrella organization for donations to a variety of Jewish and Israeli causes, donated $10,500 of the $16,000 sponsor contribution for Miller's house, Nova said. The rest was donated from individuals.
Though a few people have questioned the propriety of using donations to that organization for a project that is not exclusively Jewish in nature, there has been a remarkable uniformity of support for the endeavor from the community, organizers said.
Mike Bowie, the lead carpenter for the house and an employee of Boone, Boone and Loeb builders, said his amateur crew was progressing "quite well" their first day on the job, especially considering they were using "old tools" and fighting a downpour. "They are really working as a team, and no one has left because of the rain." About 50 volunteers are expected in two shifts to work this Sunday, Bowie said, and he hopes to have the house under roof by next week.
Stan Glasofer was impressed by the turnout of workers from Roanoke's relatively small Jewish community of about 1,000 people. There was a higher percentage turnout here than from the 40,000-member Jewish community of Houston, Glasofer said, where he lived when that group built the first Jewish Habitat house last fall.
by CNB