Pasadena Temple community is bigger than ever, a year after Eaton fire took its synagogue

"Yet amid the loss, in the year since the devastation, the community has not faltered. In temporary spaces - the auditorium of a Catholic high school, a nearby Methodist church, a backyard - members have continued to gather regularly for prayer and celebration. Laurence Harris, a longtime member and wife of the temple's cantor, Ruth, who both helped save saved multiple Torahs from burning last year, said that the community has grown in the year since."

"On the eve of the anniversary of the fire, the temple members, neighbors and supporters gathered under a blue-lit tent erected in the empty lot that had housed the sanctuary since 1941, remembering what was lost and imagining the future of the space that is expected to be rebuilt in the coming years."

""PJTC never has been defined by walls," Rabbi Joshua Ratner said. "It is defined by our congregants and by the strength of our shared purpose. Our crisis, our grief, our loss also contains within it the seeds of a rebirth that we consecrate this evening.""

The Eaton fire destroyed the historic Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center's synagogue, preschool and thousands of books a year earlier, and a hidden mural that initially survived was ultimately removed. Congregants rescued multiple Torahs from the blaze. The community continued to gather in temporary spaces including a Catholic high school auditorium, a Methodist church and private backyards, and attendance and services increased. Members and neighbors marked the one-year anniversary under a blue-lit tent on the former sanctuary lot, expressing grief and hope while planning rebuilding; design and construction plans are expected to be completed within the next year.

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