Leaders of the Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center, which has served the Pasadena area for more than 100 years, has confirmed that the home of the Conservative synagogue and Jewish pre-school, B’nai Simcha, is among the many structural casualties of the Eaton Fire, which had burned 10,000 acres in Pasadena and Altadena as of Wednesday afternoon.
“The property is gone,” Executive Director Melissa Levy said in a phone call with The Times.
She added that while the destruction of the congregation’s historic building is devastating, it’s not her main concern right now.
“We’ve got many congregants who have lost their homes already and many with homes next to homes that are burning,” Levy said. “We are trying to focus on our people now, and we’ll get to the building after.”
In a letter to members sent Wednesday morning, leaders assured the community that the congregation’s Torah scrolls had been rescued from the sanctuary, chapel and classrooms before the fire destroyed the building. They are now being safely stored in the home of a congregant. The Torah is a holy book for Jewish people and is treated with reverence and care.
Founded as Temple B’nai Israel of Pasadena in 1921, the community that would become PJTC bought the Spanish-style building on North Altadena Drive just north of East Washington Boulevard in 1941 and has remained there ever since.
Jews have not always been embraced in Pasadena or the surrounding areas — in the early 20th century, exclusionary convenants prohibited the sale of property to different groups, including Jews. Temple B’nai Israel evolved from being a religious center for the local Jewish community to a cultural and recreational center as well. In the late 1940s, the community added a larger sanctuary and social hall (where the band Van Halen would later practice), additional classrooms and a popular swimming pool (now filled in). It changed its name to the Pasadena Jewish Community in 1949 before eventually settling on the Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center to honor both parts of its identity in 1956.
More change came in the 1990s, as shifting religious practices and local demographics led PJTC to merge with Shomrei Emunah, a Jewish synagogue in Sundland-Tujunga in 1997 and Shaarei Torah in Arcadia 12 years later. Today, PJTC is the only Conservative-affiliated synagogue in the western San Gabriel Valley.
The close-knit congregation currently has about 400 member families, most of whom live in the geographic area ranging from La Cañada Flintridge and La Crescenta to Monrovia and Arcadia.
Rabbi Alex Weisz, senior rabbi at Temple Beth Israel of Highland Park and Eagle Rock, grew up going to PJTC and said he is confident that it will rebound.
“My family has been involved with the community for decades, and if anyone can make this work, it’s the folks over there,” he said.
PJTCs leadership also expressed a commitment to recover.
“In the desert of ancient days — and in Pasadena today — we know that sanctuaries have always been built and rebuilt,” the leaders wrote in an email. “We are devastated, but we will rebuild. We are here, together, and we will be okay.”
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