Volunteers scramble to rescue Torah scrolls buried in rubble after NY synagogue burns down: ‘It was a sad sight’

Volunteers scrambled to rescue three sacred Torah scrolls buried beneath the rubble of their destroyed synagogue after it burned down in upstate New York this week, according to new reports.

Members of a volunteer safety patrol ran into the charred remains to dig out a safe containing the holy texts after Rockland County firefighters put out the flames that engulfed the Chassidim of the Heights temple on Wednesday, CBS News reported.

The group spent more than an hour freeing the safe, cutting it with a buzzsaw and prying it open with crowbars to reach the holy scrolls and secure them in a plastic bag.

“It was a sad sight, to have to hold it in a bag and not know what its condition [is],” Steven Goldenberg, of the Chaverim of Rockland County, told the outlet.

Unfortunately, two of the three Torah scrolls suffered severe damage as a result of the blaze and the efforts to put it out, with water seen pouring out of the safe when it was recovered.

As per tradition, the members of the synagogue will hold a special ceremony to bury the destroyed scrolls, ABC 7 reported.

No injuries were reported as a result of the blaze, which consumed most of the house of worship and forced the rest to be knocked down for safety reasons.

The Rockland County Arson Investigation Unit was investigating the fire and trying to track down its origin.

It comes at a time where New York police and law enforcement across the nation have stepped up patrols around synagogues following a spike in antisemitism incidents as the Passover holiday looms.

Authorities have not said what sparked the blaze at Chassidim of the Heights.

The temple, which was operating inside a family residence, was undergoing construction to expand after it received permission from the village of Pomona to transform the home into a synagogue last year.

The congregation of Chassidim of the Heights vowed to reconstruct the destroyed temple.