U.N. Troops in Haiti Brief Dominican Rabbi on Relief Efforts

Rabbi Shimon Pelman, the director of Chabad-Lubavitch of the Dominican Republic who crossed the border into neighboring Haiti on Friday, described the contrasts as day and night. With hours to go until the onset of Shabbat,he counseled survivors in the devastated capital of Port-au-Prince and was briefed on efforts undertaken by United Nations troops and aid workers. Pelman, who in conjunction with Chabad of the Caribbean has set up a relief fund and Web page to keep people abreast of developments, said that those who were lucky enough to survive the Jan. 12 quake were in desperate need of food, water and medicine.