Confronted with a devastating fire that ruined a little girl’s birthday party and left much of her family’s home and Jewish center unusable, congregants of Chabad-Lubavitch of Long Island City in New York have turned the experience into a positive one.
The ordeal began on June 4 when Rabbi Zev and Rivka Wineberg, directors of the storefront home-based synagogue, thought they smelled smoke while preparing for their daughter’s fifth birthday party. When the odor got stronger, they checked the oven and found nothing. Then, someone outside yelled that smoke was coming from a next-door building.
“We started evacuating the house, but I didn’t think that the fire was really a big deal,” explained Zev Wineberg. “It was only after I ran in to grab the Torah scroll that I realized that this fire wasn’t so simple, and there were actual flames going on.”
Ultimately, the electrical fire – which began within a wall shared by the Chabad House and the neighboring building – damaged much of the Winebergs’ home and two nearby businesses. No one was hurt in the blaze.
Within hours of the fire, volunteers from throughout the community showed up to load prayer books, clothes and toys into bags and out of the boarded-up building.
“It’s amazing,” said Wineberg. “People have really come through. Someone volunteered their apartment for the synagogue, another person is storing bags of our things in their basement, and a friend is letting us stay in their condo for awhile. This has really rallied the community.”
Dan Allen, who has been attending services at the center for two years, explained that although the fire came as much of a shock, the disaster had a bright side.
“We’ve been needing a new building for quite a while now,” said Allen, “and now we have no choice.”
Plans for a new, permanent home for the center have quickly been drawn up as a result of the fire, said Ron Mandel, who along with his wife Mia will be hosting Shabbat services at their apartment this week. Until the relocation is complete, “it’ll be a travelling shul.”
Wineberg said that the center was even expecting a larger crowd for services. Allen, for one, said that he wouldn’t miss it.
“We’re definitely going to rise from the ashes,” he said.
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