Arson Damages Home of Connecticut Jewish Lawmaker on Yom Kippur

Police are investigating a predawn fire which damaged the home of a Jewish state legislator on Yom Kippur in what authorities said was the fourth arson attack on the Jewish community here in less than six weeks.

The home of Rep, Joan Kemler and her husband, Dr. Leonard Kemler, was damaged by a fire reported shortly before 6 a.m. The Kemlers and their two children fled the house, Firefighters said the fire was confined to the outside walls of the of the first and second stories of the home.

“It definitely was a case of arson,” said police Chief two empty soda pop bottles were found outside the home that were apparently filled with gasoline used to ignite the fire.

THREE EARLIER INCIDENTS

Kemler had been outspoken on the three earlier incidents. On August 10, arsonists destroyed the sanctuary and study hall of the Young Israel Synagogue, an Orthodox congregation, Several days later, a fire damaged the building and several religious articles at the Emanuel Synagogue, a Conservative congregation of which the Kemlers are members, The following day, a firebomb was thrown into the study of the home of Rabbi Solomon Krupka, the spiritual leader of the Young Israel synagogue.

Despite the more than $25,000 In reward money offered for information leading to the arrest of the persons responsible for the series of attacks, and the increased police protection and investigations, no arrests have been made. The Jewish Defense League announced recently that it would initiate armed patrols in the area.

“Obviously there is someone very close in the area who has targeted a few places and a few people in the area,” Kemler said yesterday after attending Yom Kippur services. There are some 7,300 Jewish residents out of a population of more than 60,000 in this affluent suburban community.