RUTHERFORD, N.J. (1010 WINS) -- A rabbi and his family escaped the flames of a fire that destroyed an over-70-year-old synagogue in Bergen County on Friday morning.
Rabbi Yitzchok Lerman said he and his wife heard “the fire alarm blazing” and saw the flames outside their window at Congregation Beth El on Montross Avenue in Rutherford around 2:45 a.m.
“We grabbed the kids, and we ran out,” Lerman said, adding he wanted to retrieve the Torah scrolls but “the entire building went up in flames.”
Lerman has six children, four of whom were with him at the time of the fire. “It’s a miracle we’re all safe and that we got out on time,” he said.
Mayor Frank Nunziato said that the cause of the four-alarm fire is under investigation by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office. While the building was fire-bombed in 2012, Nunziato said this fire doesn't appear to be suspicious and seems to be accidental.
"While I can't imagine what Rabbi Lerman, his wife Bina, their family and their entire Congregation are going through, I know their faith will see them through this terrible time and on behalf of the entire Rutherford community, please know we are here for you and are keeping you in our thoughts and prayers," Nunziato said in a message to the community.
The rabbi said the congregation is going to try to have a service on the front lawn on Saturday and that they will rebuild.
Temple Beth El was founded in 1919 as the South Bergen Hebrew Institute of East Rutherford and has been at the present Rutherford location since the early 1950s, according to Rutgers.
“We’re a very a active community, a very loving community, and it’s devastating to see the destruction of the synagogue, of everything we love, of our Torah scrolls,” Lerman said.