{"id":127288,"date":"2026-01-12T17:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T15:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=127288"},"modified":"2026-01-12T08:54:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T06:54:58","slug":"16-05-115","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=127288","title":{"rendered":"After synagogue arson, Mississippi mayor decries bias based on faith, race, ethnicity, sexual identity"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a>After synagogue arson, Mississippi mayor decries bias based on faith, race, ethnicity, sexual identity<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

JNS Staff, Larry Brook, Southern Jewish Life<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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“Acts of antisemitism, racism and religious hatred are attacks on Jackson as a whole and will be treated as acts of terror against residents’ safety and freedom to worship,” the Jackson mayor stated.<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

The sanctuary of Beth Israel Congregation, a Reform synagogue in Jackson, Miss., which reportedly was not damaged in a fire on Jan. 10, 2026. Credit: Courtesy of Southern Jewish Life magazine<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n

John Horhn, mayor of Jackson, Miss., stated on Sunday that a fire had \u201coccurred\u201d at Beth Israel Congregation, a Reform synagogue, and the city\u2019s lone Jewish house of worship, which traces its\u00a0origin<\/a>\u00a0to 1860.<\/span><\/p>\n

The city\u2019s fire department responded \u201cquickly\u201d to the fire, which broke out at about 3 a.m., and \u201ccontained the blaze and extinguished the fire,\u201d the mayor\u00a0said<\/a>, describing the attack on a Jewish house of worship in broad terms.<\/span><\/p>\n

No one was injured in the fire, reportedly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cActs of antisemitism, racism and religious hatred are attacks on Jackson as a whole and will be treated as acts of terror against residents\u2019 safety and freedom to worship,\u201d the mayor stated. \u201cTargeting people because of their faith, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation is morally wrong, un-American and completely incompatible with the values of this city.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The mayor added that the city stands with \u201cBeth Israel and the Jewish community, and we\u2019ll do everything we can to support them and hold accountable anyone who tries to spread fear and hate here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The work of the fire department, including its arson investigation division, and local representatives from federal agencies, including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, \u201cled to the swift arrest of a suspect,\u201d the mayor said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The city\u2019s fire department\u00a0echoed<\/a>\u00a0the mayor\u2019s remarks. Tyree Jones, chief of the Jackson Police Department and sheriff of Hinds County,\u00a0stated<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cwhat happened at Beth Israel is unacceptable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a place of worship is targeted, it affects more than one congregation. It shakes the entire community,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The American Jewish Committee stated that it is \u201coutraged by the arson attack that severely damaged Beth Israel Congregation, the largest synagogue in Mississippi.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile no one was hurt, the synagogue was extensively damaged, several Torah scrolls were destroyed, and the congregation\u2014the only synagogue in Jackson\u2014was forced to cancel services indefinitely,\u201d the AJC said. \u201cThis hateful act is only the most recent symptom of the dangerous rising antisemitism facing Jewish communities across the country and around the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Library at Beth Israel Congregation, a Reform synagogue in Jackson, Miss., which was damaged in a fire on Jan. 10, 2026. Credit: Courtesy of Beth Israel Congregation<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n

\u2018Unusable at this time\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

In an email to the congregation on Saturday morning, Zach Shemper, president of the synagogue, wrote that there was \u201csignificant\u201d soot and smoke throughout much of the building.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some two hours before the unnamed suspect was arrested on Saturday evening, the synagogue sent an email to its congregation urging that everyone refrain from speculating about the cause of the fire. After the announcement of the arrest, Beth Israel wrote to congregants that the \u201cbuilding has been secured but is unusable at this time and will have to have extensive assessment, clean up and repair.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Beth Israel also houses the offices of the Goldring\/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, which provides services to Jewish communities in 13 states, with a focus on smaller communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Michele Schipper, CEO of the institute and a past Beth Israel president, said the institute\u2019s offices and the sanctuary were not damaged, and the Torah scrolls were removed for safekeeping.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two Torah scrolls, which were in the library\u2019s ark, were destroyed. A Torah that was saved during the Holocaust and displayed in a glass case in a hallway was not damaged.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to reports, a drone flown over the building during the investigation determined that the source of the fire wasn\u2019t a lightning strike during thunderstorms that night.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Friday night, the congregation held its board installation at the 6:15 p.m. service, with a reception following. There is usually a service and Torah study on Shabbat morning at the synagogue, but the one scheduled for that day had been canceled ahead of time. The congregation also holds Sunday school classes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next Shabbat, the congregation has an adult bat mitzvah scheduled for Tamar Sharp.<\/span><\/p>\n

The building, dedicated in March 1967, has a diamond-shaped layout with offices and a library on one end, classrooms and other rooms along the sides, and the sanctuary and social hall in the center of the building, with a movable wall in between.<\/span><\/p>\n

The lobby area near the library and office, one of the points of the diamond, was completely burned out.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ben Russell, a congregant serving as student rabbi while attending rabbinical school, said that \u201cwords cannot adequately express the grief and anguish we feel.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He cited the community\u2019s strength. \u201cThis is a moment for our entire community,\u201d he said, \u201cto come together in mutual love and support.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Russell reported a \u201cprofound outpouring\u201d of care from the wider Jewish world, with donations, gifts of books, and \u201cwords of prayer and encouragement\u201d that \u201cremind us that we do not stand alone.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Beth Israel was the site of a Klan bombing on Sept. 18, 1967, damaging the office of Rabbi Perry Nussbaum and part of the library.<\/span><\/p>\n

In April 2020, Gates of Prayer in New Iberia, La., had a fire after a lightning strike.<\/span><\/p>\n

By coincidence, the next day, in nearby Lafayette, the former Yeshurun Synagogue building burned down. That congregation had merged and closed that building in the 1990s, and the church that took over the building moved out in 2016. The building had been abandoned since then and often attracted squatters.<\/span><\/p>\n

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After synagogue arson, Mississippi mayor decries bias based on faith, race, ethnicity, sexual identity JNS Staff, Larry Brook, Southern Jewish Life “Acts of antisemitism, racism and religious hatred are attacks on Jackson as a whole and will be treated as acts of terror against residents’ safety and freedom to worship,” the Jackson mayor stated. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[33,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127288"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=127288"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127305,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127288\/revisions\/127305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=127288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=127288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=127288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}