Lubavitch News Service - Synagogue Burns Down In Moscow

A fire roared through a synagogue in a Moscow suburb early Tuesday, burning down much of the wooden structure in an incident that Jewish leaders blamed on anti-Semitism. The synagogue in the town of Malakhovka, 12 miles southeast of Moscow caught fire at about 6 a.m., and the flames quickly engulfed the entire one-story building. Firefighters were unable to prevent damage to the building's interior and roof. "The fire was caused by arson (committed) out of religious hatred," said Borukh Gorin, a spokesman for the Federation of Russia's Jewish Organizations, told Ekho Moskvy radio. Russia's chief rabbi, Berel Lazar, said on state-run Rossiya television that he believed it was arson and that if that was confirmed, the culprits must be caught and punished. "In my opinion there is no place for this in today's Russia," he said. siehe auch: Arson suspected in blaze at Moscow synagogue