JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Along the recently painted brick and cinderblock walls inside the Beth Israel Congregation building hang several children’s drawings.
The artwork adds a burst of color to the historic space – one that just months ago was gutted by an arsonist’s attack.
Congregation President Zach Shemper translated one of those drawings, which included a Jewish saying in what appeared to be blue pencil.
“Hazak, hazak, v’nithazek … Be strong, be strong, and may we be strengthened,” he said. “That’s a common threat in Judaism. We’ve been knocked down before, but we always get back up – with strength and resilience.”
A child’s drawing urging the congregation to be strong in the wake of an arson attack on Beth Israel hangs inside in the building.(WLBT)
On Sunday, leaders of the state’s largest Jewish congregation opened the doors of Beth Israel to give reporters a tour of the facility.
The tour comes three and a half months after an arsonist broke into the Old Canton Road facility through a library window, doused it in gasoline, and set it on fire.
“Put accelerant on all these books, and all these Holy Scriptures over here, the Torahs, and proceeded over here to the Tree of Life, and then the administrative offices, spilt a little on himself, lit it, and took flight,” Shemper said. “All of this went up in smoke.”
“The Torahs, which we studied out of all the time, totally gone,” he said. “Smoke and soot went throughout the building.”
Wooden boards and plastic close off windows inside the library of the Beth Israel Congregation building. The library was significantly damaged during a January arson attack.(WLBT)
The Jackson Fire Department responded to the scene shortly after 3 a.m.
Two days later, on January 12, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that a suspect, Stephen Spencer Pittman, had been arrested.
Pittman has since been denied bond in U.S. District Court and Hinds County Circuit Court. It was not known Sunday where he was being housed.
[RELATED: Federal trial continued for alleged Beth Israel arsonist]
The months since, the congregation has been working to clean out the building. A large part of that has been the asbestos abatement.
“The asbestos was in flooring, as well as ceiling. You can tell the ceiling is gone as well. These were all encapsulated, so there’s no more asbestos in them,” Shemper said.
Shemper was still unsure what repairs would cost. He said asbestos abatement cost approximately $1.8 million.
“We have to wait for the insurance to come back to tell what they’re coming with. We had to wait for the architectural firm to decide with the building committee what we’re actually going to do. And then I’ve got to get with the construction company to see the bids,” he said. “Once I know those numbers, then I’ll have to… fundraise for the difference.”
Much the Beth Israel sanctuary was gutted following an arson attack in January, with the ceiling being removed due to asbestos.(WLBT)
Work will include completely rebuilding the synagogue’s library, as well as replacing much in the building that was destroyed by fire or damaged by smoke.
Rachel Myers, with Beth Israel’s religious school, said the congregation has had “quite a number” of meetings about the future of the building, with younger members recommending things like a cotton candy machine, vending machines, and a mural of rabbis.
“This building has been here for decades and people either have a lot of affection for this place and the way it was designed, and this beautiful architecture, and some had ideas on how to change it adapt it for the future,” she said.
“Now, we’re working with an architecture firm here in Jackson to fill the space again, and to redesign it for our congregation and our religious life.”
Beth Israel has been located at its current location since 1967, according to its website. That same year, the Ku Klux Klan bombed the building, and later bombed Rabbi Perry Nussbaum’s home, according to Beth Israel’s website.
The website goes on to state that the bombings “helped to galvanize Jackson’s white community, who realized that resistance to integration had gone too far” and that “since then, members of Beth Israel have played a vital part in building a more racially just society in Jackson.”
Likewise, following the January attack, Beth Israel has received an outpouring of support from the community, including from Northminster Baptist Church, where the congregation has been meeting for services.
[RELATED: Organizations around the country respond to Jackson synagogue fire]
Abram Orlansky, a former congregation president and member, also sees opportunity in tragedy.
“This can be a refreshed space for the next generation and several generations of the Jewish community in Jackson,” he said. “There’s always room for optimism.”
Perhaps the best symbol of optimism can be summed up in another painting, a watercolor of a tree taped to the wall next to where the congregation’s Tree of Life Memorial once stood.
A painting of a tree hangs next to where the former Tree of Life Memorial was located at Beth Israel. The memorial was destroyed during an arsonist’s attack in January.(WLBT)
The memorial commemorated many of the congregation’s special events, like anniversaries, bar mitzvahs, weddings, and other happy moments.
Myers said one of her students was adamant that the picture be hung next to the site of the memorial during members’ walk-through of the facility earlier in the day.
“Since this, and all of the love and the pouring in of emotional support from the city and beyond, you know, that Tree of Life will be much larger,” Shemper said. “And it’ll be a beautiful sight.”
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