Blaze guts South San Jose synagogue
The cause of fire remains under investigation; police officials say it was not a hate crime
SAN JOSE >> A South San Jose Jewish community was looking for answers after its synagogue was heavily damaged by a fire on Dec. 22.
Security camera footage showed the fire starting in the Chabad House’s carport around midnight, said Rabbi Mendel Weinfeld. It burned for several hours, died down and reignited. The rekindled flames then spread through the interior of the synagogue.
“The fire went to all sides of the building,” Weinfeld said. “The whole building is a loss.”
Weinfeld said the synagogue, at 1088 Branham Lane, was not equipped with fire alarms. Several people walked past the building while the fire was burning, the rabbi added, but the fire was not reported until shortly before 7 a.m., when waste collectors arrived to pick up the garbage.
The synagogue’s Torah scrolls were spared thanks to the timely intervention of a community member and firefighters, Weinfeld said.
“The most precious thing in a synagogue is the Torah scrolls, and one brave community member actually came running and was able to, with the help of the firefighters, recover the Torahs,” Weinfeld said. “But many other holy books were burned.”
The community member — Jacob Cohen, 53, of San Jose — said he rushed to the scene after learning from a friend that the Chabad House was on fire. Cohen explained to firefighters the importance of the Torah scrolls and asked if they could be saved.
“I’m not the type of person who believes in saying, ‘Oh, yeah, I did this great thing.’ I was just there at the right time,” Cohen said. “I think it’s really the firemen who went in there and pulled them out.”
The San Jose Fire Department did not immediately return messages seeking additional information about the fire. In a pair of tweets on Dec, 24, the department said the blaze appeared have started outside the building, then spread to a carport and the building’s attic. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
San Jose police said Thursday morning that their investigation had determined that the fire was not a hate incident.
Cohen speculated that the fire might have a simple origin.
“I can’t tell how it started and why it started,” Cohen said. “If I had to guess, living in San Jose, it was probably a homeless person trying to stay warm. It’s a miracle that no one got hurt.”
Weinfeld moved to the Bay Area from Brooklyn, New York, about two years ago to establish the
Chabad House. The synagogue staged its grand opening in September, during Rosh Hashanah.
Efforts were already underway to raise funds to rebuild the synagogue, Weinfeld said. An online fundraiser — gofundme.com/f/ rebuildchabad — had raised more than $40,000 of a $250,000 goal as of Thursday morning.
“Our message is clear: We don’t give in. We fight. And we will rebuild bigger and stronger. That’s what the community deserves at this time, and everyone is behind us,” he said.
“The fire of Judaism is going to last a lot longer than this fire that burned down our synagogue.”