At Burned-Out Synagogue, Services Held on Lawn

MIAMI BEACH, FL — Sitting on donated chairs, with a donated curtain separating the men from the women, more than 200 worshipers attended Shabbat services Friday night on the lawn of a Miami Beach Orthodox synagogue that was consumed by fire this week.

Before services began at The Chabad Shul, 2401 Pinetree Dr., speakers noted that an outpouring of support has helped ease a trying time.

”Something bad has happened, but that bad is a temporary act that has been eclipsed by so much goodness, by so much kindness,” said Rabbi Sholom Lipskar, of the Shul of Bal Harbour, who spoke to attendees before the services began.

Smoke damage was evident in the windows of the synagogue, which burned on the third day of Passover. But a large sign that hung across the building said: “Thank you for your support.”

Some believe the fire was intentionally set as a hate crime. Authorities have not declared the incident arson, but they are investigating and hope to have a report ready by next week, said Miami Beach Fire Division Chief Javier Otero.

Miami Roman Catholic Archbishop John C. Favalora visited Friday afternoon to show his support.

Favalora and Rabbi Solomon Schiff, of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, met in front of the boarded up synagogue, which was cordoned off by yellow police tape Friday afternoon.

The archbishop presented the congregation with a donation to help restore its Torah, which was damaged during the incident.

”I certainly hope and I pray that they will put back together, reconstruct, what they have lost here,” Favalora said.

The congregation’s rabbi, Zev Katz, announced Friday evening that the synagogue has found a temporary location for services nearby. Leaders are looking for a new building to buy as well, he said.

Katz told Friday night’s attendees that he was extremely upset by the fire. ”I looked at my wife after the fire and I really asked myself if I had the strength to go on,” he said, breaking into tears. “We were devastated; our community was devasted.”

Favalora said earlier that he could relate to such hardship. He talked about a fire that was set just before Holy Week last month inside St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church. ”I knew what that meant to the congregation there,” he said.

Firefighters originally cleared the synagogue site early Tuesday, but investigators returned after congregants found pieces of prayer shawls and a Torah on the property, prompting suspicions that the fire was a hate crime.

”It’s extremely heartwarming when we see a spiritual representative of a Catholic community . . . to come here and tell us of his pain and anguish and our suffering and this gives us a feeling that we’re not alone in this tragedy,” Rabbi Schiff said.