A fire has badly damaged one of New York City’s most prominent synagogues.
The four-alarm fire broke out in Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on Manhattan’s Upper East Side at around 8:30 on Monday night, according to the Associated Press. The fire, caused the roof to collapse. The building’s top floors were badly damaged.
The New York Fire Department reportedly is concerned about the massive 110-year-old building’s structural integrity.
The fire was brought under control an hour after it began. Four firefighters sustained minor injuries quelling the blaze, The New York Times reported.
The cause of the fire, which fire officials think began on the roof or top floor, has not yet been determined.
The synagogue building had been undergoing renovations. Religious articles had been removed prior to construction, so no Torah scrolls were damaged in the fire.
Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun is an Orthodox synagogue and one of the city’s most prominent Jewish congregations. It is led by Rabbi Haskell Lookstein, a leading figure in Modern Orthodoxy.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.