Update from Chabad Rabbi Yitzchak and Bina Lerman, and Chabad of the Meadowlands in Rutherford, New Jersey:
One week ago, our family and Chabad of the Meadowlands experienced a devastating fire that burned our Shul and home to the ground.
We are so grateful to Hashem for saving our lives in the most miraculous way!
We thank everyone for the outpouring of support, care and concern to help our community and our family during this difficult time.
We are grateful that our neighbor, Felician University, has given our Shul a temporary location for weekly Shabbos services, and our family is in the process of finding temporary housing where we hope to be able to live until the rebuilding process is completed.
Several large boxes of salvaged Hebrew books that were charred and waterlogged were buried in a small ceremony on our Shul grounds, and remains of three burned Torah Scrolls that were found in the rubble, will be buried in the the Shul cemetery at a later date.
Currently, the shul is meeting with insurance adjusters along with an architect and engineer, to assess the next steps to rebuild our Shul and home on the property.
From the bottom of our hearts we thank everyone that has participated in the campaign, this has been helpful beyond words, and is brings us a tremendous sense of relief, comfort, and hope to our entire family and the Rutherford Jewish community.”
If you haven’t yet had a chance to participate in the campaign to help the Lerman family and Chabad of the Meadowlands rebuild their lives and would still like to contribute, you can do so here: www.charidy.com/meadowlandsfire