The Jewish Community Relations Council of New York offered today a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for a pre-dawn explosion and fire yesterday that gutted the Mapleton Park Jewish Center in Brooklyn. The Fire Department called the incident an act of arson.
Lt. Frank Martinez of the department’s public information office, announced the results of the investigation of the explosion and fire.
Both the police and Rabbi Moshe Appel, executive director of the Jewish Center, previously had declared they had no information as to whether the fire was the result of arson or a malfunctioning gas line in the building.
Appel told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that there had been some “minor” acts of vandalism, including anti-Semitic smearings on the walls of the Center building. He said the wrecked building had housed classes for 75 yeshiva students and a synagogue. He said he had no immediate plans other than notifying the affected families to keep their children home tempporarily.
Appel also said that calls of sympathy and support had been received from many persons and that he hoped means would be found to raise funds to erect a new structure.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
