Source: The Jewish Week
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=8593
On October 24, 2003 The Jewish Week reported that Agudith Israel, the newest synagogue in Far Rockaway, was destroyed in what may be a case of arson. "A suspicious fire on Saturday morning, on Shemini Atzeret, broke out in the women’s section of the one-story brick building on a residential side street, ruining the interior and damaging the just-completed structure. 'Everything is ruined — smoke and water damage,' said Rachel Shapiro, a member of the building committee. 'Every tallis needs to be cleaned.' The building, she said, is 'unusable. It needs to be gutted and redone. 'Everyone is devastated,' she said.'We’re not a community with money.' Two non-Jewish residents of the neighborhood spotted the fire and notified the Fire Department. The synagogue’s five Torah scrolls were saved. A congregant, alerted to the blaze two hours before Shabbat services were to start, informed firefighters about the scrolls’ holy and financial value. Fire Department detectives said the cause of the fire is suspicious but probably not a bias crime, Shapiro said. 'I suspect that it’s arson,' she said."