Historic Synagogue in Mississippi Set Ablaze in Alleged Act of Arson

Members of Beth Israel Congregation at Jackson, Mississippi, are rebuilding on Sunday after the arrest of an individual believed to have set ablaze the historic synagogue in an early Saturday arson attack.The city’s only synagogue, which has previously been targeted in antisemitic violence, went up in flames overnight the morning of Shabbat. No one was hurt but several Torahs were damaged or destroyed, save one that also survived the Holocaust. The building is considered uninhabitable for the time being, according to the synagogue’s president, Zach Shemper, who sent an email to congregants Saturday alerting them to “significant” soot and smoke. Mississippi Today, which obtained a copy of the email, reported that Mr. Shemper said the building will need extensive cleanup and repair.“We are thankful to the first responders, the police, and to everyone checking in on our community,” reads a Facebook post by the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life – ISJL, which houses its offices in the building. “No staff will be working in the building for the time being. As Jackson’s only synagogue, Beth Israel is a beloved institution, and it is the fellowship of our neighbors and extended community that will see us through.”Late Saturday, the chief fire investigator at the Jackson Fire Department, Charles Felton, said fire officials had confirmed that the blaze was an act of arson. Police arrested a suspect late Saturday.Mayor John Hohrn said acts of antisemitism, racism, and religious hatred will be treated as “acts of terror against residents’ safety and freedom to worship.” “Targeting people because of their faith, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation is morally wrong, un-American, and completely incompatible with the values of this city,” he said in a statement issued on Sunday. “Jackson stands with Beth Israel and the Jewish community, and we’ll do everything we can to support them and hold accountable anyone who tries to spread fear and hate here.”The Jackson Police and Fire Departments, and the Arson Investigation Division, as well as the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Joint Terrorism Task Force are all participating in the investigation. It’s the second time the synagogue has been heavily damaged by violence. In 1967, the Ku Klux Klan bombed the building because of the congregation’s vocal support for civil rights. “Beth Israel holds a sacred place in Jackson’s moral history,” wrote a pastor for the nearby Mt. Helm Baptist Church, CJ Rhodes DMin.“They were among the congregations that stood courageously during the Civil Rights Movement and suffered violence in the 1960s because of that commitment to justice and human dignity. That history reminds us that attacks on houses of worship, whatever their cause, strike at the heart of our shared moral life.”

Historic Synagogue in Mississippi Set Ablaze in Alleged Act of Arson

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