NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) – A fire that destroyed a historic synagogue in New Jersey last week appears to be accidental, but authorities are investigating what caused it.
No one was injured in Friday’s blaze at Congregation Polie Zedek in New Brunswick, which took firefighters nearly four hours to bring under control.
Members of the 92-year-old synagogue, the city’s last surviving Orthodox Jewish congregation, have started picking up the pieces as they determine what can be salvaged.
The executive director of the synagogue, Robert Dorfman, told NJ.com on Monday that the congregation is working on arranging a place to hold services but hasn’t finalized plans. Dorfman said “every congregation” in the area has offered use of its sanctuary but the logistics haven’t been worked out.
There were between 10 and 12 sacred scrolls, known as Torahs, in the synagogue’s sanctuaries at the time of the blaze. Rabbi Abraham Myckoff ran into the burning building and saved one, but the others, including several about 100 years old, were destroyed.
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