Six sifrei Torah were burned in a fire that gutted two shuls in Kiryat Ono on the Shabbos before Shavuos.
A huge fire erupted on Shabbos afternoon around 18:00, burning down "Etz Chaim," the Turkish community's synagogue on Rechov Shai Agnon 13. It was empty at the time, the congregants being preoccupied with their preparations for Shavuos; subsequently, nothing in the building, the aron kodesh and its contents included, could be saved.
The fire spread to the nearby shul for Jews of Persian extraction. There, a shiur was being given so that its participants were still able to rescue six of the sifrei Torah before the entire building went up in flames.
Deputy Fire Superintendent, Chezi Tzefanya, told the media, "We mobilized a team from a secondary station in Ohr Yehuda and at the same time, had three teams and a fire engine equipped with a crane hurrying to the scene of the fire. From a distance, we saw a huge thick cloud of smoke and upon arrival, saw that the entire building was burning. The teams penetrated inside, at great personal risk, to extinguish the flames. Part of the ceiling had already collapsed but they were able to salvage the sifrei Torah, six of which were already totally burned."
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