Etz Hayyim Chania Synagogue 2010 Arson and Reconstruction Project

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www.etz-hayyim-hania.org "At approximately 12:20-1:00 AM on the night of the 5th January, a serious attack was made on the fabric of the Synagogue. One or two or even more individuals made their way into the south garden of the synagogue by climbing over the iron gate. Subsequent to this they set about making an improvised incendiary device by tearing open a large Ottoman cushion in the mikveh and then with the contents stuffed a canister that was filled with some flammable liquid which was then set afire under the wooden stair of the ezrat nashim." Read more at http://blog.etz-hayyim-hania.org/ At 3::30 am on 16 January themain office and library above were burned down and a substantial part of the wooden ceiling of the synagogue burnt... Nikos Stavroulakis writes: On the night of the 5th -6th January the synagogue was attacked by arsonists and in the course of a quite rabid fire my office in the newly constructed Ezrath Nashim was destroyed...along with it some 1800 books and the two computers amongst other things. Last evevnig after a week of work on the sanctuary - newly scraped, primed and re-painted - the wood-work oiled with lavender and teh marble floor polished...we met for Erev Shabbat prayers and Kiddush...locked the synagogue and returned to our homes feelign that we had set our steps foward. At 3::30 AM I was wakened by the alarm and rushed there with Dori and Besnik to find the entire main office (Alex's and Anja's) ablaze, As the fire engines had nto yet succeeded in getting their hoses connected I began to do what I could with the garden hose along with Besnik and then the mains where finally connected and the firemen set to work - by 4:45 the fire was only smouldering and all that remained of the upper and lower offce were completely gutted...1/3rd of the wooden ceiling of the synagogue burnt, the benches covered in soot and broken wood, the floor a mess - but the EHAL was not touched! I cannot go in the details of the hours until 9:00 with police and fire brigade - but I can say that everything in the two offices - two computers, complete Talmud, Midraschim, 2 sets of Rashi lexicons (Aramaic, Greek and Hebrew ) plus many reference books and the entire archive iof the Synagogue - all haev been destroyed/ By noon I took the decision to have the Siphrei Torah removed to my house...along with all of the silver ornaments (rimonim, tassim, yads etc.) and a precious early 17th century illuminated Qur'an. It was a sad moment when I saw them taken away from the Kal as i| remembered how joyous I had been to see them installed in 2000!...but I am determined that they will come back!

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