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The FBI says that a suspect in the arson fire at a historic Mississippi synagogue admitted to targeting the institution because of its “Jewish ties”.
Stephen Spencer Pittman was charged on Monday with maliciously damaging or destroying a building by means of fire or an explosive, the FBI said.
The weekend fire ripped through Beth Israel Congregation shortly after 3am on Saturday. No congregants or firefighters were injured in the blaze. Security camera footage released on Monday by the synagogue showed a masked and hooded person using a gas can to pour a liquid on the floor and a couch in the building’s lobby.
Pittman’s father later allegedly became suspicious of burn marks on his son’s ankles, hands and face. He reportedly contacted the FBI and said that his son had confessed to setting the building on fire.
Pittman had texted his father a photo of the rear of the synagogue before the fire, with the message, “There’s a furnace in the back.” His father had pleaded with his son to return home, but “Pittman replied back by saying he was due for a homerun and ‘I did my research,’” the affidavit said.During an interview with investigators, Pittman said he stopped at a gas station on his way to the synagogue to purchase the gas used in the fire. He also took the license plate off of his vehicle at the gas station. He used an ax to break out a window of the synagogue, poured gas inside and used a torch lighter to start the fire, the FBI affidavit said.The FBI later recovered a burned cell phone believed to be Pittman’s and took possession of a hand torch that a congregant had found.
Local and national officials, religious figures and activists condemned the fire at the 160-year-old synagogue, the largest in Mississippi and the only one in Jackson, the state’s capital.
It was the site of a Ku Klux Klan bombing in 1967 – a response to the congregation’s role in civil rights activities, according to the Institute of Southern Jewish Life, which also houses its office in the building. The home of the synagogue’s rabbi, an outspoken critic of racial segregation, was also bombed two months later by the same group.
“That history reminds us that attacks on houses of worship, whatever their cause, strike at the heart of our shared moral life,” said CJ Rhodes, a prominent Black Baptist pastor in Jackson, in a Facebook post.
The arson underscores the importance of interfaith solidarity in standing up to hate and bigotry, said Jim Berk, the chief executive officer of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Los Angeles-based organization focused on combating antisemitism.
“It was an assault on the heart of Jewish life in the [US] South, and on a legacy shaped in partnership with the Black community through the long, unfinished struggle for civil rights,” Berk said in a statement. “This attack is not only an act of antisemitism – it is an assault on that legacy, testing whether the lessons of that era still hold.”
“That it has been attacked again, amid a surge of antisemitic incidents across the US, is a stark reminder: antisemitic violence is escalating, and it demands total condemnation and swift action from everyone,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, in a statement.
Beth Israel Congregation was assessing damage but planned to continue its regular worship programs and services for Shabbat, the weekly Jewish Sabbath, likely at one of the local churches that reached out, said Michele Schipper, CEO of the Institute of Southern Jewish Life and a past president of the congregation.
“We are a resilient people,” said Zach Shemper, the Beth Israel Congregation president. “With support from our community, we will rebuild.”
One Torah that survived the Holocaust was behind glass and was not damaged in the fire, Schipper said. Five Torahs inside the sanctuary are being assessed for smoke damage. Two Torahs inside the library, where the most severe damage was done, were destroyed, according to a synagogue representative.
The floors, walls and ceiling of the sanctuary were covered in soot, and the synagogue will have to replace upholstery and carpeting.
