What was once a place of worship filled with precious objects packed with meaning now sits in heavy layers of dark soot, burdened by the pungent smell of smoke after someone set fire to Mississippi’s largest and oldest synagogue.
A 19-year-old suspect confessed just hours after last weekend’s blaze to attacking the historic temple “due to (the) building’s Jewish ties,” the FBI said. He faces federal and state charges and, if convicted, could serve up to 60 years in prison.
Now, the Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson – founded before the Civil War and bombed in 1967 amid the Civil Rights Movement – is closed indefinitely as restoration and recovery begin inside its historical walls…