Religious buildings were not spared the wrath of the Palisades Fire on Tuesday and Wednesday in Los Angeles, with many churches damaged and destroyed.
One of the first religious buildings known to have caught alight was the Presbyterian Church on Sunset Boulevard, which burned to the ground — except for the iconic cross tower.
Nearby, the concrete edifice of the Kehillat Israel synagogue was untouched — but the home of Rabbi Daniel Sher was completely destroyed.
The Corpus Christi Catholic Church and the adjoining school appeared to have been barely damaged as well.
Closer to the ocean, the complex housing the Chabad of Pacific Palisades was damaged, but the main synagogue building survived.
Firefighters also battled to save the Lake Shrine, the home of a large and popular spiritual and meditation center known as the Self-Realization Fellowship.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the shrine itself remained intact, though several peripheral buildings had been destroyed.
The complex houses a portion of the ashes of Mahatma Gandhi.
The scale of the loss in Pacific Palisades is almost impossible to describe. Half of the community has simply been destroyed; thousands of homes and families have lost everything, though they have escaped with their lives.
There is no doubt that centers of faith and worship will be crucial in days to come.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
