Fire at Chabad center in suburban Boston investigated as possible hate crime

BOSTON — A fire outside the suburban Boston home of a rabbi that serves at a Chabad center is being investigated as a possible hate crime.

Police in Arlington, Massachusetts, have asked for the public’s help in identifying a person caught on a neighbor’s video camera walking away from the home Saturday night around the time of the fire.

Firefighters put out the small fire that burned the shingles of one side of the Center for Jewish Life in Arlington-Belmont, home to Rabbi Avi Bukiet, his wife and their three children.

Police and town officials have no evidence yet that the location or its Jewish homeowners were targeted because of their religion, but “are leaving open and actively investigating the possibility of a hate crime,” according to a statement from Julie Flaherty, the town’s acting chief of police, and Christine Bongiorno, director of the Health and Human Services Department.

Police have added extra patrols to the home and the area.

Arlington, which is less than 10 miles northwest of Boston, has seen a number of anti-Semitic and racist incidents in recent years, including a widely reported incident one year ago in which 14 juveniles admitted to painting anti-Semitic and homophobic graffiti and vandalism at the public high school.

— JTA