Afire which destroyed a synagogue in New Jersey and several robberies marred Yom Kippur services for several congregations in the New York metropolitan area.
The fire, which destroyed Temple Ahavas Achim in New Brunswick, occurred yesterday as 300 persons were attending services. All were evacuated safely as were about 35 persons from four surrounding buildings.
The Middlesex County Arson Task Force is investigation the blaze which was described as being of suspicious origin. It started in a storage room at 3:48 p.m. as did an earlier fire Friday night in which congregation members discovered several opened gas jets and an American flag burning.
The fire yesterday was discovered when several temple members smelled smoke and traced it to the storage room during a break in the service. The temple was then quickly evacuated.
In Brooklyn, meanwhile, the Young Israel of Brighton Beach was robbed of three Torahs,–valued at $1500; four small silver crowns, valued at $2500; two silver pointers, worth $200 and three silver breastplates, worth $1500, sometime between Thursday night and Friday morning. In addition, the Shomrei Torah Synagogue, also in Brooklyn, was robbed of a Torah valued at $10,000 Thursday night.
Meanwhile, police in Suffolk County on Long Island are searching for vandals who caused $100,000 in damages to the Hebrew Academy of Suffolk County in Hauppauge during Rosh Hashanah. The vandals scrawled swastikas on two classroom doors, flooded most of the building with water from a garden hose, and stole desks and school supplies.
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