Rhawnhurst rabbi: Someone torched my SUV
David Kushner believes that his car was targeted because it was parked outside an Atlantic City synagogue during Rosh Hashanah.
RABBI DAVID KUSHNER is having a rough start to the Jewish New Year.
"We're trying to look at this situation positively," Kushner, of Rhawnhurst, told the Daily News last night. "The year can only get better from here."
Early Thursday, his Ford Explorer was torched as it sat parked in the lot next to the Rodef Sholom Synagogue in Atlantic City, the rabbi said.
Kushner recently became the synagogue's rabbi, and had parked the SUV in the lot Wednesday night before conducting Rosh Hashanah services.
He went to stay overnight at his family's nearby Shore house, but when he returned Thursday, he found only ashes and scorch marks. The totaled vehicle had been towed away by authorities.
Officials haven't released an official report on the blaze, but Kushner said investigators told him that the fire is "suspicious."
Atlantic City authorities did not respond to requests for comment.
"I think someone picked the car because it was parked at the synagogue during worship," Kushner said. "It's almost impossible to say it was a coincidence."
Kushner said he lost some valuables in the fire, including equipment he uses as a volunteer Emergency medical technician in Monmouth County, N.J.
But the biggest toll, he said, can't be measured in dollars.
"We have an older congregation, comprised of many Holocaust survivors," he said. "To see this during the High Holy Days raised emotions in them that haven't come out for years."