The Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center burns during the Eaton fire in Pasadena on Jan. 7, 2025.
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Josh Edelson
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AFP via Getty Images
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Topline:
The Eaton Fire destroyed the campus of century-old Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center.
Hundreds of people affected: The congregation says it’s membership includes more than 400 families and has the only Jewish religious school for youth in the San Gabriel Valley.
Staff helping families: The synagogue’s leaders said they’re helping the “many” congregants who lost their homes in the current L.A.-area fires.
The Torahs: Staff entered the buildings on Monday to quickly remove 13 Torah scrolls that are essential for religious services and various celebrations throughout the year.
What's next: Leaders say they plan to rebuild.
Go deeper: Other LA landmarks and special places destroyed by these fires. Read the list here.
The photograph is devastating, especially for those who know the building: flames engulfing a building framed by Spanish mission revival arches.
“Though some of the exterior walls are standing for all intents and purposes, our entire campus has been lost,” Rabbi Jill Gold Wright, the center’s director of education, told LAist.
The Eaton Fire destroys buildings at the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center.
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Getty Images
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The center includes multiple buildings that house the sanctuary, as well as a social hall, classrooms for the Louis B. Silver Religious School for youth, and staff offices.
“Fortunately, we were able to rescue all our sacred Torah scrolls from the sanctuary, from the chapel, and from the classrooms,” said Cantor Ruth Berman Harris.
Fortunately, we were able to rescue all our sacred Torah scrolls from the sanctuary, from the chapel, and from the classrooms.
— Cantor Ruth Berman Harris
Those 13 Torah scrolls, parchment with Hebrew text of what’s known outside Judaism as the Old Testament, are used and read from at different times of the year, including weekly on Shabbat.
According to L.A. County records, the building was built in 1932 and sits on a 91,000-square-foot parcel of land.
Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, a brief history.
The congregation traces its roots to 19th century Jewish residents of Pasadena. Official incorporation of Temple B’nai Israel of Pasadena by the State of California happened in 1921.
In the 1940's the congregation purchased its current home, a Mission revival building.
In 1956 the congregation changed its name to the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center.
Rock singer David Lee Roth had his Bar Mitzvah in the center In the 1970s.
In the late 1990s and 2010s the congregation merged with synagogues in Sunland-Tujunga and Arcadia.
In 2014 it became the first Conservative congregation to employ a transgender rabbi when it hired Becky Silverstein as education director.
It’s unclear how many other properties surrounding the synagogue were destroyed by the Eaton Fire. The congregation includes more than 400 families.
The center’s leaders said “many” congregants lost their homes in the current fires and others in their community have opened up their homes to house them.
The ark that houses Torahs at the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center during religious services in 2024.
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Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center YouTube channel
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That logistical work, making sure people are safe and housed, is taking up their time now. Followed by their commitment to rebuild the structures that have burned down.
Other L.A. landmarks and special places destroyed by these fires: Read the list here.
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