What a remarkable Torah rescued from Iran -- then LA's fire -- can teach about community amid devastation

There will be Shabbat services in Pasadena this weekend.

That’s far more remarkable than it seems, considering the utter devastation the community faced just days ago. On Tuesday, the Eaton Fire swept through Altadena and parts of Pasadena, destroying the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center. The congregation’s four buildings, a center of Jewish community life for 100 years, went up in flames.

But the community isn’t collapsing. The leadership quickly received an offer of donated space from the nearby Mayfield School, a private academy, while it plans for the future.

“We’re definitely rebuilding,” said Peter Mendel, a sociologist at the Rand Corporation who joined the synagogue in 2004 and chairs its religious life committee. “It’s just a matter of figuring out things.”


The remains of Wohlmann Hall, built in the early 1940s, which was the oldest building in the Pasadena Jewish Temple complex. Its destruction revealed a mural — covered by renovations and completely forgotten— that seems to illustrate Jews wandering the desert with their Torah. Photo by Patrick Wright


Photo by Patrick Wright

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