MAITLAND, Fla. — Back in September, a fire began at the Chabad of Greater Orlando’s headquarters right around the time the Jewish High Holidays were set to begin. 

A security guard who was working that morning recorded the fire on his cell phone. He can be heard in the recording repeatedly saying, “God have mercy. God have mercy,” in Hebrew.

The main building of the Chabad was ruined and it still currently smells the way it looks, charred.

Considered a major step back, father and son Rabbis Sholom and Dovid Dubov are trying to rise a congregation from the ashes.

“It’s a total loss,” Sholom Dubov said. “We have to actually now spend detailed time documenting everything that’s inside because a separate line item in insurance is called contents.”

Many of the items were destroyed. However, amongst the charred floors, burnt wood, and parts of the ceiling now on the floor, the Torahs were saved from the fire. 

“If you look closely, you’ll see inside the arc all the wood is not burnt,” Sholom Dubov said. “Look at the wall and you see some of the wood objects completely destroyed. It’s charred. I don’t have any way to explain that. The fire marshal said it’s the closest thing I saw to a miracle.”

After a plea from Sholom’s son to the fireman working the fire, they were able to retrieve the Torahs. 

The Torahs now sit in a cupboard inside the school building next to the Chabad building — a makeshift arc.

The school building isn’t large, but it at least provides a place for those seeking worship. Now, the challenge is trying to find answers to what’s next.

“We want to see Chabad of Greater Orlando in the best position and if that means a bigger building, a better building, a better location,” Dovid Dubov said. “Then that might be the best position for the Chabad of Greater Orlando to be in.”

Fundraising continues, as does the wait for the insurance claim to be sorted out, and a new building to call home, but what has not stopped despite this setback is serving their Central Florida community.

Between the building and items inside the Chabad, their losses are well over a million dollars.