A Bronx Hebrew school and a synagogue less than two blocks away have been damaged by fires of suspicious origin within 24 hours. Police were seeking Tuesday, four youths who were seen inside the Hebrew Institute of University Heights shortly before a fire broke out in a fourth floor classroom Monday night. Police are also investigating Sunday night’s fire which destroyed the altar and some sacred items at nearby Congregation Toirei Zonov causing Rabbi Eisis Lieber and his family to flee their quarters in the building. The Hebrew Institute building houses a synagogue and a YM-YWHA. Police said a caretaker had chased four youths from the building about 90 minutes before the fire was discovered. Swastikas were found soon afterward chalked on walls in the vestibule and in the auditorium. According to firemen, vandals broke into the classroom and set fire to a stack of religious books which were also torn and defaced. Twenty persons were evacuated from the building. Rabbi Maurice Lamm of the congregation said he thought it was the work of “a few pranksters” and said there was no “untoward evidence of anti-Semitism” in the neighborhood. Police were reported to be taking a more serious view of the incidents.
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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.
