After Fatal Fire in Brooklyn, a Somber and Cautious End to Hanukkah
Light
is typically interpreted as the emblem of everything good and positive
in Jewish tradition. That symbolism is all the more important this time
of year, as Hanukkah — known as the Festival of Lights — celebrates the
ancient miracle of an oil lamp that burned for eight straight days.
But on Monday morning, light took on a grislier significance among Orthodox Jewish neighbors in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.
Around
2 a.m., as the Azan family slept in their three-story home on East 14th
Street, flames leapt from their oil-burning menorah and started a fire
that killed a mother and three of her children, the Fire Department
said. The children’s father, Yosi Azan, and four other family members
managed to escape, officials said.
The
fatal fire rattled a deeply religious community that mourned the dead
on Monday night in a procession of vehicles carrying the victims. On
Tuesday, as neighbors grappled with the loss of life, they also focused
on the safest way to celebrate the seventh and penultimate night of
Hanukkah. Oil-burning menorahs, like the one officials said caused the
fire, tend to burn longer than candle menorahs, and if they are left
unattended can pose a risk.
“I
feel like the community is going to be more cautious now with lighting
the menorah,” Victor Levi, who described himself as a distant relative
of the Azan family, said at the scene of the fire. “My mom makes sure
she doesn’t go to sleep until it’s off.”
Mr.
Levi, 27, said he believes that Jewish families in the neighborhood are
attuned to the dangers posed by the lighting of the traditional Jewish
lamp for Hanukkah and that steps are usually taken to prevent fires,
like not letting menorahs burn for too long.
On
Tuesday morning, the streets surrounding the scorched home smelled of
ash. Dangling from the roof was a fire-licked drainage pipe bent against
the breeze.
Along
the street, front windows were decorated with Lego menorahs,
traditional candlestick menorahs, light bulb menorahs and oil menorahs.
On a nearby outdoor porch, an oil menorah was perched on a stool and
encased in a glass box with golden trim, set at a distance from the
house.
The
menorah that started the fire in a front room of the Azan family’s home
was about two feet wide and burned oil held in small glass cups. One of
the surviving Azan children and a teenage cousin told investigators
that the oil menorah had been left burning after they went to sleep and
that they saw the fire start nearby.
Although
candle menorahs are more common, oil-burning menorahs have long been
used by Orthodox Jews and are considered by many the most authentic way
to commemorate the original small flask of oil that burned inside the
Holy Temple.
Oil
menorahs, which are mostly manufactured and imported from Israel,
became increasingly popular in the United States about seven years ago,
said Sam Heilman, a professor of sociology at the City University of New
York.
“It’s
now the thing,” said Mr. Heilman, an expert on Orthodox and Hasidic
communities. “If you go into any Judaica shop, they sell these sort of
pre-made ones that come with little oil capsules. You just pop off the
top and light them. They’re less messy.”
Oil-burning
menorahs can burn for up to an hour and a half, while the candle ones
tend to burn for about half an hour, Mr. Heilman said. Jewish law
dictates that the menorah be lit around nightfall, he said. The fire at
the Azan house began at 2 a.m. and fire marshals suspect that the glass
may have cracked under extended heat exposure, spilling oil and
spreading flames.
“Jewish
families are generally very cognizant of the danger of open flames, as
candles or oil lamps are used to usher in the Sabbath each week as well
as on holidays, particularly Hanukkah,” said Avi Shafran, the director
of public affairs at Agudath Israel of America. “But, like any open
flame, they should not be left unattended.”
Monday was not the first time that Jewish worship has led to deadly fires. Two years ago, seven children were killed not far
from the Azan home when a hot plate warming food for the Sabbath
started a fire in a family home. That fire led to a surge in Orthodox
Jews in Brooklyn buying smoke detectors before the next Sabbath.
The
Azans are Syrian Jews who came to the United States from Israel about
15 years ago, relatives said. A stretch of Brooklyn that runs to Avenue V
from Avenue I and extends eastward to Nostrand Avenue from West 6th
Street is considered one of the largest Syrian Jewish communities in the
United States.
On Tuesday, the garden in front of the Azan home was laden with bouquets of pink and white flowers.
“It’s
like a house that was never there,” said Shlomo Sousson, 48, who stood
outside praying and holding a Bible. “A whole family perished in one
night.”
He added, through tears: “Everything that God does is for good. It’s above our understanding.”
2 comments:
Trump Commutes Sentence of Imprisoned Kosher Meat Executive Sholom Rubashkin!!!
יחי אלוהינו מורינו ומושיענו מלך רבי שליט"א לעולם ועד!!!
And Chabad celebrates their criminals (and typically ignores or further victimizes their victims).
They're handing out free vodka in Crown Heights to celebrate the criminal's release. He's their "hero." Sick.
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