Editorial Standards \u24d8<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\tNearly three months after a fire was intentionally set inside the Beth Israel synagogue in Jackson, the congregation is focused on healing and rebuilding after the anti-Semitic attack.”The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, so the First Amendment gives us that right, and it’s important that everyone have the ability to worship that is safe,” said Sarah Thomas, the First Vice President of Beth Israel. Student Rabbi Ben Russell said the congregation has prioritized healing over focusing on the perpetrator, 19-year-old Stephen Pittman, and is now working to return to their house of worship. “We have focused more on healing than on the perpetrator and that part of it,” Russell said. Thomas emphasized that the strength of the community and its commitment to practicing Judaism is the driving force behind the temple’s members holding a positive mindset. “Our community is a community regardless of where we are. I love this building and excited to be back, but the building not the community, it’s the people, and we’re going to continue practicing Judaism,” Thomas said. While reconstruction efforts are ongoing, several other denominations have offered their buildings as temporary worship spaces for Beth Israel. On Sunday, temple leaders welcomed some members back for the first time since the attack, an emotional moment for many. “It shows that we’re part of the community, and the Jackson community is stronger than one hateful act,” said Abram Orlansky, the former Beth Israel president. For the first time since January’s arson attack, Beth Israel leaders invited members of the congregation to view the progress on the building’s reconstruction. Rabbi Russell described today’s events as “refreshing and hopeful to see people having the opportunity to get to explore and see, and to grieve, but to also plan for the future. It’s been an amazing experience watching today.”\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tJACKSON, Miss. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Nearly three months after a fire was intentionally set inside the Beth Israel synagogue in Jackson, the congregation is focused on healing and rebuilding after the anti-Semitic attack.<\/p>\n
“The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, so the First Amendment gives us that right, and it’s important that everyone have the ability to worship that is safe,” said Sarah Thomas, the First Vice President of Beth Israel. <\/p>\n
Student Rabbi Ben Russell said the congregation has prioritized healing over focusing on the perpetrator, 19-year-old Stephen Pittman, and is now working to return to their house of worship. <\/p>\n
“We have focused more on healing than on the perpetrator and that part of it,” Russell said. <\/p>\n
Thomas emphasized that the strength of the community and its commitment to practicing Judaism is the driving force behind the temple’s members holding a positive mindset. <\/p>\n
“Our community is a community regardless of where we are. I love this building and [am] excited to be back, but the building [is] not the community, it’s the people, and we’re going to continue practicing Judaism,” Thomas said. <\/p>\n
While reconstruction efforts are ongoing, several other denominations have offered their buildings as temporary worship spaces for Beth Israel. On Sunday, temple leaders welcomed some members back for the first time since the attack, an emotional moment for many. <\/p>\n
“It shows that we’re part of the community, and the Jackson community is stronger than one hateful act,” said Abram Orlansky, the former Beth Israel president. <\/p>\n
For the first time since January’s arson attack, Beth Israel leaders invited members of the congregation to view the progress on the building’s reconstruction. Rabbi Russell described today’s events as “refreshing and hopeful to see people having the opportunity to get to explore and see, and to grieve, but to also plan for the future. It’s been an amazing experience watching today.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beth Israel synagogue rebuilds after antisemitic arson attack 16WAPT got a look inside the synagogue as the rebuilding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[30665,30661,30660,12306,1760,29088,5591,30666,37,499,9981,30664,30663,30662,24310,30667],"class_list":{"0":"post-86052","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-anti-semitic-attack","9":"tag-antisemitic-arson-attack","10":"tag-beth-israel-synagogue","11":"tag-building","12":"tag-community","13":"tag-congregation","14":"tag-first-time","15":"tag-healing","16":"tag-israel","17":"tag-judaism","18":"tag-member","19":"tag-reconstruction-effort","20":"tag-russell","21":"tag-sarah-thomas","22":"tag-temple","23":"tag-temporary-worship-space"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116477594424199408","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"WAPT](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/wapt.png\")
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