B’nai Israel arson in Vallejo: Synagogue burns, but damage could have been far worse

It's hard to look on the bright side when someone breaks into a synagogue and lights it ablaze.

Yet, if not for an unlikely series of events, a relatively limited arson fire at Vallejo's Congregation B'nai Israel last week could easily have gutted the synagogue:

• The Thursday afternoon, June 17, blaze was discovered almost immediately.

• The fire was limited to the school office, and did not enter the sanctuary or menace the congregation's three Torahs.

• And this one is the big one — smoke was spotted by firefighters on a passing fire engine, who took it upon themselves to break into the synagogue and extinguish the blaze.

"If the firemen hadn't been dropping by our neighborhood on their fire engine, there would be no shul today," said Lionel Jacobs, a past president of the congregation.

"It's heartbreaking to see your shul burn. But it was very minimal — minimal by fire department standards, not by shul standards. But it was not anywhere near what it could have been."

Jacobs said the congregation's insurance company estimated damage at roughly $150,000, but, in yet another stroke of good fortune, B'nai Israel's deductible is just $1,000.

Vallejo police and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms do not believe the arson fire to be a hate crime, postulating it was instead an act of vandalism or was set to cover a burglary. A number of small burglaries have recently taken place in the neighborhood, according to police officials, who suspect the blaze is the work of young people.

The blaze destroyed an office filled with electronic equipment and filing cabinets, and smoke damage pervades the synagogue. Jacobs said the only item stolen from the synagogue was a laptop computer that had been stored in a filing cabinet.

With power temporarily shut off following the fire, Rabbi David E. White opted to hold Friday night services outdoors on June 18.

The fire is the first major vandalism at the unaffiliated temple anyone can remember. Heather Campbell, the congregation's president, recalled the odd rock thrown at a window or a swastika sprayed onto a back wall or carved into a door, but that was more than a decade ago.

Like Jacobs and White, Campbell is counting her blessings regarding the scope of the fire, but she still can't help but feel angry and violated.

"It's very emotional. I don't like looking into my house and seeing things that were burned. Thank God our Torahs are all right and the sanctuary is all right and no one was hurt. But it's just a weird mix of emotions," she said.

"I'll probably feel that way for a while."