Fire engulfed the Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center. Getty/Josh Edelman.

Building a Mishkan: A Synagogue’s Recovery After the LA Wildfires

By Sarah Ensor

On January 7, 2025, Melissa Levy, executive director of Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center (PJTC), was evacuating from her home as the Eaton Fire spread quickly through areas in and around Los Angeles. She received a call: who was on campus to protect the Torah scrolls? No one, as far as she knew.

That morning, strong Santa Ana winds had been forecast, suggesting possible danger. “I had everyone work from home, and I’m really glad I did,” Levy said.

Unfortunately, that meant no one was on campus to protect the thirteen Torah scrolls stored in the center, the temple, and the school.

Soon the cantor, the cantor’s husband, a former rabbi, and several other temple officials and congregants drove to the PJTC campus to retrieve the scrolls. By the time they arrived, ash was falling in the parking lot. The fire was spreading rapidly.

Inside, they found the facilities manager in the lobby, with all thirteen scrolls. He had taken public transportation to the PJTC to save them. The group loaded the scrolls into their trunks and made it to safety.

Not much else is left of the 100-year-old PJTC, the fire having destroyed the campus—including one of many Yahrzeit plaques that memorialized the deceased (the remaining were stolen after the fire), and a few other metal artifacts, including a Star of David.

Of 430 families who are congregants, 70 were displaced. More evacuated at least for a short time. As of March 2026, 36 of those 70 remained displaced, some fighting insurance companies or struggling to pay rent on top of their mortgage for more than a year.

In the early weeks, the priority was to ensure everyone had food, clothing, and housing, Levy said. In addition to their congregation, the PJTC helped eight synagogue neighbors who lost their homes. “It’s not only about God, it’s about people,” Levy said.

Outside support from religious communities throughout the world arrived to help the congregation. Within a few days, the Sunday school was relocated and held in a donated space. “Churches were almost fighting to offer us space at wildly reduced costs,” Levy said.

The congregation now worships at First United Methodist Church (FUMC) of Pasadena, a former member of Partners for Sacred Places’ New Dollars/New Partners Southern California cohort, and for more than a year had office space on that campus. 

FUMC’s sanctuary is a beautiful space, Levy said. The stained glass windows depict scenes from the Old Testament, which is familiar. Each service, the Torah and a donated handmade ark are wheeled into the space. Prayer garments (kippah and tallit), as well as specific podiums, also help make the space feel holy.

High holidays are held at a CalTech auditorium. The university moved its student orientation so the PJTC could hold its Rosh Hashanah service there. “It’s the power of community that makes a sacred space,” Levy said.

The PJTC was far from the only sacred place that experienced devastation across Southern California in the 2025 wildfires.

“Churches, synagogues were completely leveled,” said Adrian Scott Fine, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Conservancy. In Altadena, where many historic and cultural resources had never been comprehensively surveyed, “we lost places that we didn’t even know about.” 

Altogether, the fires destroyed fourteen houses of worship, according to the Rev. Amy Aitken, pastor of Pasadena FUMC. On the night of the fire, FUMC opened its doors to evacuees and, in the weeks that followed, distributed food, water, and masks while continuing Meals on Wheels service. “We just opened the church,” Rev. Aitken said. The story has repeated elsewhere. Rev. Aitken says surviving congregations across the area made room where they could. Two United Methodist churches lost in the fires—Altadena United Methodist and Pacific Palisades United Methodist—are worshipping in borrowed church spaces while planning to rebuild.

The PJTC plans to rebuild and is working with designers, as well as city and county planners. The new design will offer a view of the mountains from the prayer space and from a rooftop space. Pieces of the campus will feel familiar, although it is designed for modernity. “Judaism has changed a lot in 100 years,” Levy said.

On the eve of the fire’s one-year anniversary, PJTC congregants gathered in the campus parking lot. Holding lanterns, about 400 people walked together onto the building site, where the new footprint had been marked with tape. The ceremony was hard but healing, Levy said. “We built a Mishkan,” she continued—a “dwelling,” a portable sanctuary. 

Pasadena First United Methodist Church held ‘A Service of Hope’ after the fire to comfort fire victims.