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16 Iyar 5761 - May 9, 2001 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Arson in Netanya's Ramat Ephraim Synagogue
by Betzalel Kahn

Members of the Ramat Ephraim neighborhood synagogue in Netanya arriving for shacharis on Shabbos parshas Shemini were shocked to discover extensive damage to the synagogue as a result of malicious arson perpetrated in four different locations in the synagogue.

Fortunately, the flames did not reach the aron kodesh, and the sifrei Torah were not harmed. However, sifrei kodesh and furniture were heavily damaged. Neighbors of the synagogue, who noticed the fire at 1:00 A.M. Shabbos night, called the Fire Department which extinguished the fire.

Synagogue members relate that exactly a month ago on Shabbos night the synagogue was vandalized: charity boxes were stolen and equipment was destroyed. In addition, every Shabbos night during the past month, the nearby Me'ir Yaakov synagogue has been vandalized and heavily damaged.

Members of the synagogue have filed repeated complaints with Netanya Police about the attacks on the synagogue. Furthermore, they report that every Shabbos night, the park near the synagogue swarms with juvenile delinquents that terrorize area residents.

HaRav Eliezer Sorotzkin, the rav of the Ramat Ephraim neighborhood and the rav of the central synagogue on Lochamei Hageta'ot Street, wrote urgent letters to the mayor of Netanya, M. Fireberg, and to the commander of the Netanya Police Department, Deputy Commander Avi Bidan. In his letters, he demands protection for residents of the neighborhood and for the local synagogues. He called upon education and welfare bodies in the city to deal with this violent group of youngsters, and to the Police Department to apprehend the perpetrators of the arson and bring them to justice.

 

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