Miracle 100-year-old Torah Survives House Fire Intact

Boca Raton, Fla. - It was one of the worst days of Paul Clarke’s life. But now his neighbors and local firefighters have allowed Clarke and his family to focus not on what they lost, but on what they saved.

“We realized there was smoke, called 911, and from there, the first just took over,” Clarke said. The home is considered a total loss. Clarke, his wife, and their four children lost so much. Nearly all of what they owned was destroyed. But not everything. Firefighters salvaged the family’s 100-year-old Torah. “It was a miracle,” Clarke said.

Clarke believes the miracle isn’t just that the Torah was saved, but that it was saved entirely intact. Despite the fire, the smoke, and the water, the Torah was recovered undamaged. “Thousands of gallons of water were inside the house, and there was virtually not a drop of water on the scroll that we brought out,” said Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Captain Dan Zitnick. “Whatever higher power you believe in, something was at play there,” said Jeremy Lurie, a neighbor. “To have it come out and not a drop of water, not singed, not nothing was truly amazing,” Clarke said.