New Haven Shluchim and Safer Torah Safe After Early Morning Fire Torch Their Home

by CrownHeights.info

Surrounded by Yeshivas Beis Dovid Shlomo, a Chabad Mesivta and Zal in New Haven, CT, the nondescript home at 296 Norton Street doesn’t give off the vibe that anything of import goes on inside. The house, home of Shluchim Rabbi Berel and Fayge Levitin, is decieving.

While the upstairs houses living space for the Levitin’s, the first floor houses a shul where those becoming close to Torah and Mitzvos can come feel comfortable. The home also plays host to the local Russian Jewish community, who arrive daily to learn and daven.

Sadly, an early Sunday morning fire torched the home, destroying much of the house, but not the Sefer Torah.

Around 4:00am, Rabbi Levitin was following his morning routine when he smelled smoke.

“Then I see red outside,” Rabbi Levitin told reporters. He then said that he entered the bathroom and saw the flames. After waking up his wife, they both evacuated the home and called the fire department.

The three-alarm blaze had ignited in the rear of the first floor, severely damaging the back of the home and making it uninhabitable. But thanks to a fireproof safe, the Sefer Torah kept in the shul remained safe, and was removed from the burned home once it was safe to do so.

Mayor Justin Elicker, who arrived at the scene of the fire was reported by the New Haven Independent as saying that, said he was struck to find “that the couple lived in the home were so calm and at peace as they watched their home burning. When I approached, they expressed more concerns for the firefighters than any concern for themselves or the loss of their belongings. I imagine that deep faith is what drives such serenity at such a moment of loss.”