A fire raged through Congregation Poile Zedek Synagogue, an Orthodox Ashkenazic synagogue in New Brunswick, N.J., Friday, destroying the historic building.
The fire was reported at 4:30 p.m. by a caretaker who "heard a bang and smelled smoke" before contacting 911, reported USA Today. By the time first responders arrived on the scene, however, the fire had already spread throughout the entire building and it was beyond saving.
Firefighters worked into the night, mopping up hot spots, leaving members of the congregation to contemplate their loss in total disbelief.
"To think I'll never set foot in there again," said congregant Ari Goldring, who celebrated his bar mitzvah there 10 years ago, according to ABC 7. "It was such a beautiful building, and it's now all gone. I don't know like right now, it's still, I'm kind of numb."
Making matters worse for the congregants, not only was the synagogue lost, but only one of the congregation's sacred torah scrolls could be saved. The others were all lost to the blaze.
"To lose that, it's like losing your most precious religious object. It's like God forbid there should be a fire in a synagogue, if it's possible to rescue anything from it then the torah scrolls are the first priority," Goldring said.
No injuries were reported, and the cause of the fire is under investigation, according to the New Brunswick Patch.
Congregation Poile Zedek Synagogue was more than 100 years old and became a historic building in 1995 when it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
