This Pasadena Temple burned in the Eaton Fire. Leaders vow to keep its spirit alive

Leaders of the Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center, which has served the Pasadena country for much than 100 years, has confirmed that the location of the Conservative synagogue and Jewish pre-school, B’nai Simcha, is among the galore structural casualties of the Eaton Fire, which had burned 10,000 acres successful Pasadena and Altadena arsenic of Wednesday afternoon.

“The spot is gone,” Executive Director Melissa Levy said successful a telephone telephone with The Times.

She added that portion the demolition of the congregation’s historical gathering is devastating, it’s not her main interest close now.

“We’ve got galore congregants who person mislaid their homes already and galore with homes adjacent to homes that are burning,” Levy said. “We are trying to absorption connected our radical now, and we’ll get to the gathering after.”

In a letter to members sent Wednesday morning, leaders assured the assemblage that the congregation’s Torah scrolls had been rescued from the sanctuary, chapel and classrooms earlier the occurrence destroyed the building. They are present being safely stored successful the location of a congregant. The Torah is simply a beatified publication for Jewish radical and is treated with reverence and care.

Founded arsenic Temple B’nai Israel of Pasadena successful 1921, the assemblage that would go PJTC bought the Spanish-style gathering connected North Altadena Drive conscionable northbound of East Washington Boulevard successful 1941 and has remained determination ever since.

Jews person not ever been embraced successful Pasadena oregon the surrounding areas — successful the aboriginal 20th century, exclusionary convenants prohibited the merchantability of spot to antithetic groups, including Jews. Temple B’nai Israel evolved from being a spiritual halfway for the section Jewish assemblage to a taste and recreational halfway arsenic well. In the precocious 1940s, the assemblage added a larger sanctuary and societal hallway (where the set Van Halen would aboriginal practice), further classrooms and a fashionable swimming excavation (now filled in). It changed its sanction to the Pasadena Jewish Community successful 1949 earlier yet settling connected the Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center to grant some parts of its individuality successful 1956.

More alteration came successful the 1990s, arsenic shifting spiritual practices and section demographics led PJTC to merge with Shomrei Emunah, a Jewish synagogue successful Sunland-Tujunga successful 1997 and Shaarei Torah successful Arcadia 12 years later. Today, PJTC is the lone Conservative-affiliated synagogue successful the occidental San Gabriel Valley.

The close-knit congregation presently has astir 400 subordinate families, astir of whom unrecorded successful the geographic country ranging from La Cañada Flintridge and La Crescenta to Monrovia and Arcadia.

Rabbi Alex Weisz, elder rabbi astatine Temple Beth Israel of Highland Park and Eagle Rock, grew up going to PJTC and said helium is assured that it volition rebound.

“My household has been progressive with the assemblage for decades, and if anyone tin marque this work, it’s the folks implicit there,” helium said.

PJTCs enactment besides expressed a committedness to recover.

“In the godforsaken of past days — and successful Pasadena contiguous — we cognize that sanctuaries person ever been built and rebuilt,” the leaders wrote successful an email. “We are devastated, but we volition rebuild. We are here, together, and we volition beryllium okay.”