Fire Outside Chabad School Under Investigation

ALBANY, NY — Rabbi Israel Rubin sifted through the rubble of the trailer that sits outside Maimonides Hebrew School. Books destroyed. Desks charred.

Officials say the fire that caused all the damage is suspicious — and they have not yet ruled out that an arsonist could be to blame. The rabbi heard the disturbing news just after the fire was put out.

He said, “In the morning, the contractor called me and said, ‘did you see the news? The trailer’s been on fire.”

If it was the work of an arsonist, the rabbi wonders, who could have done this? The trailer has been marked before, by those carrying spray paint.

“We were concerned about the graffiti. We painted over the graffiti, it came back on,” Rabbi Rubin said. “We suspect this is a little mischief that children, kids, teenagers got out of hand and perhaps didn’t realize the result of it.”

This was not, he said, the work of an anti-semite. Through the soot, he saw a silver lining.

“I was very thankful that it was just the trailer, not the school building,” Rabbi Rubin said. “It’s a setback, it’s a little financial setback, but we’ll recover and we’ll get over it.”

The greatest loss is what cannot be replaced. Seventy-year-old pews were being stored in the trailer at the time of the fire. They were first used in a synagogue on the property, then in a church. Next, they were to be used in a new expanded school — until the fire destroyed them.

“It’s an afront and a wrong thing to do to do everyone,” Rabbi Rubin. “It’s not just one religion, and we hope that people will take this to heart and be more sensitive and know that you throw a match, you never know what it can develop into.”

Despite what’s been destroyed, the rabbi said he’s grateful the most important things are safe.

“The children are happy, looking forward to better things,” Rabbi Rubin said. “It’s a setback, but we’ll live through it.”

School will open as scheduled next week.