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AP

Beth Abraham synagogue in Caracas, Venezuela.

A group of about 20 homeless people stormed into a synagogue Monday in Caracas, arguing that the building had been abandoned and they needed a home.

Homeless Squatters Occupy Synagogue in Caracas

AP

Beth Abraham synagogue in Caracas, Venezuela.

A group of about 20 homeless people stormed into a synagogue Monday in Caracas, arguing that the building had been abandoned and they needed a home.

The three-storey Beth Abraham synagogue in the Alta Florida neighbourhood of the Venezuelan capital has been undergoing renovation for the last two years, said representatives of Venezuela’s Jewish community.

In a recent clash with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Jewish groups including the Simon Wiesenthal Centre denounced what they saw as state anti-Semitism in the South American country.

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10 Comments

  • just took law class

    how logn were they living there? assuming it was a minimum amount of time then they can’t claim the proporty

  • go-ds right hand man

    remind them to pray rpay the go-d of abraham isaac and jacob

  • Yitzchak Mordechai

    Sounds similar 2 Hadar HaTorah ppl just come here when they got no where else 2 go & its not a homeless shelter that is y the entrance 2 hadar hatorah is locked every nite @ around 11 & any1 who we could tell is not planning on learning but rather & as place 2 sleep we ask them 2 leave as Hadar HaTorah is not a Homeless Shelter. In Los Angeles there is a Chabad Program that deals with the Homeless

  • sara b

    these squatters left after a short while once they realized the bldg was not unoccupied

  • to #3

    You’re a bit uncalled for! You have no idea what it is like to need a place to stay when you dont have one. stop being so selfish

  • Shmiel

    Just so people understand…
    Chavez’s socialist law is that if a house is indeed abandoned, that homeless people can move in and take ownership.
    (for that reason, many people hire caretakers to live in their vacation homes, so that they don’t get “invaded”.)
    In this case, the people broke the lock, and put on their own, as it is shown in the video, and “decided” that it was abandoned. possibly because it was under construction, so people were probably not living in the house upstairs as they usually are. That is where the homeless people went, not downstairs in the Shul area.
    But the shul was still functioning.
    The police came to convince the people to leave.
    “Squatter” law is different in a socialist country.

  • to #1

    really now?!
    you just took a course in american law, and you’re going to rule about this?!

    of course they are wrong, but it must be fought on a different system

  • 2 # 4

    Lets not call them “squatters” R“L they r families with out homes or individuals without home & we have 2 treat them as nice as we can ”they r not Bums” they need our help that we should help them have a place 2 live & eat. This is the great Mitzvah Of Tzedaka. Yes Tzedaka is the biggest Mitzvah in the Torah & we need 2 start an org that helps ppl like this. Yes Chabad of Los Angeles does it y can’t Lubavitch of NY do it as well & get something started. Lama Lo this is not what the Rebbe wants

  • emesdik

    Their presence in the shul makes it a makom kadosh. There is a mesorah that Eliyahu HaNavi will come as a homeless person.