A fire set by on arsonist, apparently with anti-Semitic motivation, caused over $130,000 in damage to Temple Beth David in the San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles County in the early hours of Sunday morning. No one was hurt in the blaze which gutted the sanctuary and badly damaged most of the Torahs.
The Sheriff Department’s Arson Squad investigators reported that an arsonist broke into the building through a window and placed flammable materials under the “bimah” (platform). Rabbi Alan Lochtman, spiritual leader of the Reform congregation, said he left the building at 11:30 p.m. Saturday night. It was set afire about 1 a.m., when the Temple City Fire Department was summoned.
Lochtman told the B’nai B’rith Messenger that the 180-family congregation will conduct services temporarily in its religious school nearby. He also reported that “many of the Torahs that were burned were rescued during the Holocaust.”
Suspicions of anti-Semitism were aroused in light of the vandalism at Temple Beth Torah, 2 1/2 miles away, that occurred during Rosh Hashanah. At that time a swastika was burned on the temple lawn and anti-Semitic and racist pamphlets were found strewn on the temple parking lot.
“We must view this as yet another attack on our community,” said Edwin Herzog, Jewish Federation Eastern Region Community Relations Committee chairman. “We are urging all regional congregations to notify local police authorities of the need for additional patrols in the coming days and months.”
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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.
