Mississippi’s largest synagogue finds triumph in rebuilding after arson

Black, sweeping lines form an outline of a tree on the brick wall that once displayed the Tree of Life in Mississippi’s largest synagogue.

The commemorative brass plaque was damaged but withstood a fire that was intentionally set earlier this year at Beth Israel Congregation’s house of worship in northeast Jackson. Flames traced the trunk, branches and brass leaves that contain inscriptions of congregants’ birthdays, weddings and anniversaries.

The plaque has been sent to be restored by specialists, along with five of the synagogue’s Torahs and religious tapestries. For now, Rachel Myers, a congregation leader who teaches the synagogue’s religious school, taped up a picture of a tree drawn by one of the congregation’s children.

“He wanted to make sure that we keep that Tree of Life going,” she said.

Children’s drawings represent how Myers and the congregation have used the arson to remind each other about the importance of resilience and faith.

A Madison County man, Stephen Spencer Pittman, awaits trial in what prosecutors say was an antisemitic attack. Pittman – who usually goes by his middle name – has pleaded not guilty to three federal charges of arson, damage to religious property and using fire to commit a felony.

Pittman was arrested hours after the fire at a local hospital where he was being treated for severe burns. He allegedly confessed his crimes to law enforcement and referred to Beth Israel as the “synagogue of Satan,” according to a federal court document filed days later. Surveillance video from inside the synagogue showed a man splashing liquid, and prosecutors allege that after Pittman set the fire, he called his dad and “laughed as he told his father what he did and said he finally got them.”

Myers said the fire only made members of the congregation stronger. It has even made teaching Hebrew to the young people a little easier, she said.

“We’re going to keep doing this, because someone wants us to stop,” she said Sunday as congregation officials opened the synagogue to local media.

Earlier in the day, some 60 congregation members walked through the synagogue for the first time since the fire in the predawn hours of Jan. 10. What they saw was much different from the synagogue they had known, said Sarah Thomas, the congregation’s first vice president, who has been a member all 37 years of her life.

“It was a good chance to see what it is now and then start to dream and hope for what it will look like when we’re back in here as a community,” she said.

Instead of walls covered in tapestries and other artworks, congregants saw mostly barren cinderblock, windows of shattered glass, and tall, empty rafters – the result of the fire revealing asbestos in the ceiling.

“All along all of these walls were holy scriptures, prayer books and other works of art you can’t find anywhere else,” Zach Shemper, the congregation president, said as he stood in the now-empty library where surveillance video showed the attacker breaking into the building and pouring accelerant.

The arson destroyed many of those objects, including two Torahs housed in the library where the first flames were set.

A faint smell of soot could still be detected in the building, as the heating and air conditioning system has yet to be remediated, Thomas said. But the cleanup work is 95% complete.

In concert with a local architect, congregation leaders hope construction will start by late summer, with the goal of hosting services in the building by the Jewish New Year in October 2027. Asbestos abatement alone will cost $2 million, but the total cost of rebuilding is not yet known without bids from construction companies.

To buoy congregants’ spirits during the walk through, Myers taped art works created in her classes throughout the synagogue. And without prompting, many congregants started discussing improvements they hoped to see in the space – specifically, the need for more freezers in the kitchen, which plays a key role in the congregation’s annual bazaar that includes classic Jewish meals.

“Our congregation is already thinking about ways to invite the public back here in the space,” Myers said.

Thomas was excited to see that one of the pictures was made by her daughter, Ruby. Underneath the words to a Hebrew song that Myers taught the children about strength, Ruby drew bright blue water overcoming red flames, producing a triumphant rainbow.

“Whatever this one person thought he was going to do,” Myers said, “it only made us stronger.”

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This story was originally published by Mississippi Today and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.