LA wildfires claim multiple houses of worship, leaving congregants to pick up the pieces

Flames were already attacking the campus of Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center when the cantor, Ruth Berman Harris, and three companions rushed in to rescue its sacred Torah scrolls.

Physically, that’s now all that is left of the 80-year-old synagogue, destroyed by wildfires that also destroyed a mosque, a Catholic parish and a half-dozen Protestant churches. Many members of these congregations were among the thousands of Angelenos who lost their homes this week. As the threat of new fires persisted, clergy were left with the huge challenges of offering comfort and pondering paths toward rebuilding and recovery.

“There’s absolutely nothing except for a few walls and the empty space,” said the Pasadena Jewish Center’s executive director, Melissa Levy.

Nevertheless, hundreds of its congregants have gone to the site “to say, ‘Goodbye’” to the places where they celebrated milestones in their faith and family lives, Levy added.

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Navigating road closures to rescue Torah scrolls

Berman Harris — along with her husband, another congregant and a custodian — managed to get the Torah scrolls into their cars and whisked away to safety before the synagogue was engulfed in flames Tuesday night.

“It’s the heartbeat of any Jewish community,” she said of the Torah. That’s why, despite road closures, she rushed in to try to save the scrolls after a congregant who lives near the temple called her to say the flames were getting closer.

Several houses of worship were destroyed in Pasadena and Altadena, including a mosque — Masjid Al-Taqwa, leaving its small, tight-knit community mourning the loss of a beloved gathering space. One of its board members lost his house in the fire, along with at least 10 of the faithful, said the volunteer imam, Junaid Aasi.

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“So many families called it their second home,” Aasi said of the mosque. It was started as an African American place of worship, and in the past 20 years had attracted diverse young families as well as professionals and college students.

Its backyard had become a place of community celebration nightly when breaking the fast during Ramadan, with children doing art activities like painting murals.

“It was a sense of belonging for us,” Aasi said.

Samar Ghannoum, a professor at the University of Redlands, has prayed at the mosque with her family since the 1990s. It was Ghannoum’s daughter who alerted that the mosque was destroyed.

“When she called and said, ‘Mom, the masjid is burned,” and was in tears, my heart broke," Ghannoum said Friday.

Earlier in the day, she had gone for midday prayer to another mosque, where congregants added the “Salat al-Istisqa,” a prayer for rain rooted in the Islamic belief that God’s mercy provides sustenance.

Community fundraising efforts have already started to rebuild, with donations surpassing $100,000 by Friday night. For Friday prayer, Aasi shared a list of neighboring mosques; for Ramadan, the faithful hope to be able to secure a space to gather again as a community.

The wildfires destroyed Altadena Community Church, as well as several homes owned by members of the congregation of about 60 people, said its pastor, the Rev. Paul Tellström.

“It’s shocking,” said Tellström. “It’s a reminder to us of all of the fragility of life.”

Worship without a building

The church, built in the 1940’s, was known for its colorful stained glass and for hosting a popular choir.

The church’s Facebook page shared images of the building engulfed in flames. Another photo showed parishioners singing outdoors. Underneath, the image it read: “WE are the church! We can worship anywhere.”

“This is a big blow, but it will not impede our progress,” Tellström said. “The most important takeaway is that we are the church — not the building.”

Altadena United Methodist Church also burned down, as did homes of many members, according to Facebook posts by its pastor, the Rev. J. Andre Wilson.

“Our building is gone,” he wrote. “But YOU and US, are the church.”

Fire spoils church’s weekend wedding plans

Ricardo Springs II, a church member who came to see the remains of the building, said the congregation had been planning this Sunday to host the wedding of a couple that recently joined the church.

The devastation is “just heartbreaking,” he said. “God will see us through this.”

“My sons grew up in this church, my wife grew up in this church,” he told The Associated Press on Thursday. “It’s an awesome church community.”

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Altadena also was destroyed.

“It is with a broken heart that I share with you the news that our church building is lost,” the Rev. Carri Patterson Grindon, the rector, wrote on Facebook. She said several community members lost their homes and the church staff was organizing a network of mutual support.

“We will need one another in the days ahead as we face these devastating losses,” she wrote. “I am here for you, and I know our community will hold together, and love and support one another through whatever lies ahead.”

Prayers — and faith — bolster affected congregations

The Parish of St. Matthew, an Episcopal church in Pacific Palisades, whose campus also includes a preschool-through-8th grade school, reported that all of its clergy residences were destroyed, though its sanctuary, middle school and other buildings were intact.

The church has hosted online gatherings, using the liturgy of Compline or night prayer.

“We feel your prayers,” the school’s chaplain, the Rev. Stefanie Wilson, said in the Thursday night online gathering, responding to the outpouring of concern from people far and near. “We need them and we want them and we feel that you’re with us right now.”

In Pacific Palisades, Corpus Christi Catholic Church was destroyed. Its website displayed a photo of the skeletal remains of the church, accompanied by this message: “I have no words. Our beautiful church in Pacific Palisades, as of this morning.”

Also destroyed was Pacific Palisades Presbyterian Church, which posted photos on its Facebook page showing the church intact before the fire and in ruins afterward.

Throughout the stricken areas, faith leaders were concerned about congregation members who lost their homes and have found temporary shelter with friends or in hotels. But they are finding hope in their faith and their communities.

“Nothing in my faith has been rocked by this,” said Melissa Levy of the Pasadena Jewish Center. " If anything, it’s been bolstered by the support we have received and we can give."

Synagogues still standing offer a place to worship

The Los Angeles area is home to more than 600,000 Jews, the second-largest community in the United States. The Pasadena synagogue also lost its preschool, and in Pacific Palisades, fires seriously damaged another synagogue and a Chabad center, said Rabbi Noah Farkas, president of the Jewish Federation Los Angeles.

Synagogues away from danger will host services over the weekend for those congregants who cannot attend their regular temples, and volunteers have been helping with everything from food and cash assistance to providing a dedicated text messaging line for hundreds of displaced families who have no idea what, if anything, of their homes survived the fires.

“I’ve been here 32 years and literally every person I know has lost their house,” Rabbi Zushe Cunin said of the neighborhood of his Chabad center. “Apocalyptic is the word I’ve been using.”

As clouds of smoke started building in the area earlier this week, Cunin said, he and other staff escorted about 100 children from their school to safety through growing traffic jams to the Pacific Coast Highway, and then ran back to save the scrolls. The fire damaged classrooms and other spaces, though the sanctuary is intact.

But even as they remain determined to rebuild, the immediate priority for Cunin, Levy and Farkas is helping their congregants and the broader communities who have lost all their possessions.

“Even with the people of means, everything is gone,” Cunin said.