Minor Fire at Beth Gavriel Bukharian Congregation; No Injuries

By Reuvain Borchardt

NEW YORK — A welding fire occurred at Beth Gavriel Bukharian Congregation in Queens Friday, but it was contained quickly and there were no injuries.

The large shul, located on 108th Street between 67th Ave. and 66th Road in Flushing is undergoing extensive renovations, and on Friday during Shachris, as a window was being welded, the fire broke out.

Workers sprayed fire extinguishers, which contained much of the fire. FDNY arrived with approximately eight vehicles, and extinguished the fire.

Queens Shmira helped clear the shul and mikvah.

Baruch Hashem, nobody was hurt.

“Eventually, a lot of sheetrocking will have to be redone, largely due to water damage,” Avraham Pinkhasov, a Queens Shmira member who was at the scene, told Hamodia. “But Baruch Hashem the fire wasn’t serious. The shul and mikvah will be open for Shabbos.”

According to Pinkhasov, at least 600 people daven in the shul every Shabbos.

In a video message to congregants, Rabbi Tomer Zino reassured congregants.

“There’s minimal damage, everything is going to be according to schedule,” Rabbi Zino said. “We’re going to continue with construction. The other side of the shul is safe. We’re going to pray here Shabbat. Everybody’s safe, everybody’s fine. Everyone should be relaxed.”

But he also urged congregants to take action.

“We should take upon ourselves to do more,” he said. “We need zechuyot to finish this magnificent building. The yetzer hara knows that we’re going to do a lot of mitzvot, so he’s trying to push us back, but we’re going to be strong, and everybody has to take upon themselves more this Shabbat, b’ezrat Hashem. And we have to watch out [for] ayin hara, rabbotai. We have to make sure that we don’t show off what we have. We do mitzvot, in a most modest way, and … Hashem will be with us. The Shechina is here.”

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rborchardt@hamodia.com

Video of Rabbi Zino’s comments below