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December 17, 2007

Temple destroyed, its ‘heart is untouched’

Gail McCarthy

Members of Temple Ahavat Achim who gathered at the Unitarian Universalist Church for Sabbath services wept as a procession of firefighters delivered artifacts that survived the fire that hours earlier destroyed the congregation’s house of worship.

“It was spectacularly touching, and they brought them in with such respect and kindness,” said Mitch Cohen, a lifelong member of the congregation. “We’re so appreciative of their efforts ... They worked all night long.”

Like Cohen, Carole Sharoff, co-president of the temple, will never forget the procession of firefighters.

“I greeted each one as they came in and they walked to the rabbi,” she said. “They had some prayer shawls and yarmulkes. They were frozen and sprayed with the foam that the firefighters were using.”

While their temple was destroyed, the heart of Cape Ann’s Jewish community survives.

“This is a community that continues intact,” said Rabbi Samuel Barth, who leads Temple Ahavat Achim. “The scar will be there forever, but the heart of the congregation is untouched, and we will rally and be strong through this.”

The long process of rebuilding will begin soon, Barth said. The former church, built in 1738, has been the congregation’s home since 1950.

“The act of rebuilding will strengthen the community,” Barth said, “and in the intervening time, which will likely be about two years, the life of the community, the teaching of the kids will continue very smoothly. There will be minimal disruption.”

Cohen agreed.

“We will be wandering Jews for some period of time, and like the Jews between Egypt and the promised land, we will create containers for a Torah and our prayer books, so that wherever they are will be our home for however long it takes us to rebuild,” Cohen said. “We will be a whole community because we just need our Torah and our prayers to practice Judaism.”

During the Saturday service, the congregation used a Torah brought by one of its members, Jean Baer O’Gorman. Only a few remnants of one of the five Torahs owned by the temple were recovered from the ashes and will be buried ceremonially.

The Torah, the sacred scripture comprising the five books of Moses, is laboriously written by hand on parchment in Hebrew calligraphy by specially trained scribes.

Cohen said the fire also destroyed almost all the temple’s records, including records of deceased members for whom prayers are said on the anniversary of their death.

“We have a great deal of information to try to reassemble,” he said.

Barth thanked the Rev. Wendy Fitting of Unitarian Universalist Church for offering sanctuary to his congregation.

“There has been an extraordinary outpouring from Jews and non-Jewish clergy, even from around the world, who reached out to us,” he said.

Barth invited the public to a service on Thursday evening at 7, which will begin at the synagogue and continue to the Unitarian Universalist Church.

Fitting said she was eager to help.

“As long as they need a place to worship, they are welcome in our space,” she said. “Houses of worship burning down is a horrible trauma for the entire community. It’s a heart-breaking event for so many.”

Meredith Fine, a past president of the temple, said despite the heartache, the spirits of the congregation are strong.

“There was a lot of energy in the congregation on Saturday,” she said. “It’s a given that all will be well in the long run.”

At Saturday’s service, Casey Moir, a teenager whose parents converted to Judaism, compared the loss of the temple, Cape Ann’s only synagogue, to the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem.

But Moir declared that she and the members of the other 200 families active in Temple Ahavat Achim were more fortunate than the Jews of the 2nd century B.C. because the first temple was lost to “mean-spirited people,” whereas in Gloucester, Jews lost their temple because “that’s what nature willed.”

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