‘Everything was gone’: Sask. Jewish community plans to rebuild cemetery shop destroyed in fire

A Saskatoon synagogue is planning to rebuild its cemetery maintenance shop after it was destroyed in a fire. Laura Woodward reports.

A Saskatoon synagogue is planning to rebuild its cemetery maintenance shop after it was destroyed in a fire.

On Jan. 21, at 5:40 a.m., the Saskatoon Fire Department responded to a fire at the Congregation Agudas Israel Cemetery — located on the city outskirts, west of the airport.

Grant Scharfstein, a board member with the congregation, said the fire burned the cemetery’s garage and all the equipment used to maintain the grounds.

“It was all gone. Everything was gone,” said Scharfstein, standing in front of the rubble.

“There was nothing in there that was salvageable.”

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Replacing the building and equipment is expected to cost about $150,000. Insurance is covering only part of the total, according to Scharfstein.

“Being a Jewish community, I know a lot of the people thought, ‘Was this deliberate? Was this an act of anti-Semitism?’” he said.

Scharfstein said insurance adjustors don’t believe the fire was deliberately set, but the exact cause is unclear.

“They’re not 100 per cent certain how, but maybe an electric heater, or something of that nature, malfunctioned,” he said.

Neighbours step in to help

Just two days after the fire, the cemetery needed to host a funeral.

“It happened to be a lady in our community who was 109 when she passed away,” Scharfstein said.

“Neighbours pitched in to plow the roads and get everything ready so we could do it, because we didn’t have any equipment left.”

Congregation Agudas Israel has launched a Cemetery Rebuild Fund, which has raised nearly half of its $50,000 goal on GoFundMe.

The cemetery is Saskatoon’s only dedicated Jewish cemetery and has served the community for more than 100 years.

The rebuild is expected to begin in the summer.