AUSTIN, Texas — Repairs are underway after an arson at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue.
The synagogue in North Austin is currently closed after someone intentionally set fire to the entrance on Halloween.
On Tuesday, KVUE was invited inside the synagogue, where damage estimates have reached about $150,000. KVUE walked through the damage with senior Rabbi Steve Folberg.
Soot still covers the wooden doors that burned for about 10 minutes before firefighters got there.
Rabbi Folberg told KVUE that in the aftermath of the fire, so many people remarked that the doors were emblematic of happy times – that they walked through them after getting married or some other kind of celebration.
PHOTOS: Congregation Beth Israel fire damage
Inside, photographs of confirmation classes have been draped with plastic, and there is still smoke damage to walls, the ceiling and the floor. There is still the smell of smoke, and that will likely require ceiling tiles to be replaced.
Rabbi Folberg said there is no timeline for when the sanctuary can be used again.
“I think, for a lot of people, there is a sense of personal violation because a space that they associate with some of the significant moments of their lives, that people tried to destroy it,” said Rabbi Folberg. “Think of every human emotion a person would feel if their home were set on fire, their church were set on fire, other special places set on fire. What would be the things people would feel? I have heard expressions of all of that – from anger to sadness to tears to, ‘OK, let's roll up our sleeves and get in there and do what we have to do.’”
Rabbi Folberg said one of the things people are also processing is the arrest of an 18-year-old. Franklin Barret Sechriest remains in federal custody. Investigators say they linked him to the fire in multiple ways, including his car and license plate caught on security footage.
Rabbi Folberg said the congregation has received about $100,000 in donations since this happened from people of all religions – not just here in Austin, but across the world.
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