: Jerusalem Masorti synagogue torched : By Aryeh Dean Cohen : The Jerusalem Post : Sunday, June 25, 2000 : Jerusalem (June 25) - Vandals last night threw burning : rags into Kehillat Ya'ar Ramot, a Masorti (Conservative) : synagogue in Jerusalem's Ramot neighborhood, causing a : fire that destroyed several prayer books and Pentateuchs : and extensive smoke damage. : The air conditioning system and window frames were also : damaged, but the synagogue's three Torah scrolls were : unharmed. : It was the second attack on the synagogue since the : building's front door was torched on May 27. It has also : been daubed with threatening graffiti in the past. : "Our heart is torn," said Rabbi David Bateman, the rabbi : of the synagogue on Rehov Even Shmuel. : "It's hard to imagine that any other Jew could perpetrate : this kind of act of vandalism and destruction against a : synagogue. Even if, according to their opinion, it : doesn't have the sanctity of a synagogue, it certainly : houses kosher Torah scrolls and is at the very least the : physical property of other people," he said. : Police and firefighters arrived at the scene shortly : after Shabbat, after neighbors phoned a synagogue : official that the building was on fire. Neighbors : reported hearing voices, then the sound of glass : breaking, before the fire erupted. : Police said that at about 9 p.m. the arsonists shattered : one of the synagogue's windows and threw in several : burning rags. Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby : said police are still searching for the vandals. : Rabbi Andrew Sacks, director of the Rabbinical Assembly : in Israel (the organization of Masorti rabbis) happened : to be getting a ride down the street and raced upstairs : to the sanctuary to see if the Torah scrolls were safe. : "The whole sanctuary was filled with smoke. I got down on : my knees and belly to see if the Torahs were in danger - : they weren't. There was a good-sized fire going on : inside. The large windows to the sanctuary had been : smashed and the chairs in the row along the windows were : completely engulfed in flames when we got there, before : the firemen arrived and put out the blaze." : "After the last attack we had responses from [Science, : Sport and Culture Minister Matan] Vilna'i, [Foreign : Minister] David Levy, [Communications Minister Binyamin] : Ben-Eliezer, [Tourism Minister Amnon] Lipkin-Shahak - not : a word from the Religious Affairs Ministry, not from : [Minister Michael] Melchior, not from [Jerusalem Mayor : Ehud] Olmert. And maybe had they reacted, things would : have been different. If the chief rabbi had come out : against such behavior, maybe it could have been : prevented," said synagogue president Hilary Herzberger. : Masorti Movement president Rabbi Ehud Bandel said both he : and the movement are "very angry" about the attack. : "I think that the lack of a strong response by the : authorities the last time sent a message of encouragement : to those radical groups," he said. : Bandel said he expects the police and the other : responsible authorities to provide better protection for : the synagogue. : "The problem is the lack of proper response from the : authorities," he said, adding that when such an incident : occurs, he would have expected Olmert to be one of the : first at the scene. : The Anti-Defamation League office in Jerusalem last night : issued a statement saying: "We call upon law enforcement : authorities to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators : of this heinous crime to the full extent of the law. : Equally important, we call upon religious leaders of all : streams of Judaism and other religions in the city to : come together and denounce the desecration of any house : of worship." : (Etgar Lefkovits contributed to this report.) : News Plus : http://www.mantra.com/newsplus : Om Shanti : Not for commercial use. 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