Minnesota man arrested for allegedly torching 117-year-old synagogue

A Minnesota man has been arrested for torching a nearly 120-year-old synagogue, although police aren’t calling the incident a hate crime yet, authorities said Sunday.

Matthew J. Amiot, 36, was booked Friday on arson charges in connection with last Monday’s blaze, which decimated the historic Adas Israel Synagogue in Duluth, Minnesota, Duluth Police Chief Mike Tusken said at a press conference.

But at this point in the investigation, there is “no reason to believe this is a bias or hate crime,” Tusken said.

“That may change,” he said. “But at this point in time, that is the determination I have.”

Duluth Fire Chief Shawn Krizaj said flames erupted around 2:30 a.m. outside the house of worship but “quickly spread through voids in the wall space and spread throughout the synagogue.”

No one was inside at the time.

Firefighters hosed down the wood-framed building for at least five hours before it collapsed into a pile of charred rubble.

Six Torah scrolls, handwritten on parchment paper, were destroyed. One firefighter was injured.

No accelerants were found at the scene, Krizaj said.

Police are unaware of any previous contact or connection between Amiot, who is not Jewish, and the synagogue. He has no known permanent address nor a rap sheet, cops said.

Amiot is being held in the St. Louis County Jail and will appear in court Monday.

Established in the late 19th century, the synagogue was the oldest modern Orthodox house of worship in northern Minnesota.

Rabbi Phillip Sher, who leads the congregation, called the firefighters “heroic.”

“They went into a building that was still burning to save some of our artifacts,” he said. “The bravery of these men is just incredible.”

Sher says he has been comforting members of his congregation mourning the loss of their sacred space.

“True Judaism is in the heart,” he noted. “It’s not in the building.”

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