Arsonists Attack Synagogue Again : Vandalism: The fire is the second in three weeks at Temple Adat Elohim in Thousand Oaks. Earlier, a door was set ablaze and anti-Semitic graffiti spray-painted on the building.

For the second time in three weeks, fire damaged a Thousand Oaks synagogue Sunday morning, the latest in a string of suspected anti-Semitic incidents in Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley.

Officials said the fire, which caused an estimated $8,000 in damage to Temple Adat Elohim, was arson, but they have not determined how it was started.

“It was definitely a set fire. It didn’t look like anything was stolen,” Peter Cronk, a Ventura County fire investigator, said.

Officials said the fire began outside the building about 4:49 a.m. and damaged a wall of the sanctuary and part of the roof. An electronic alarm alerted fire and sheriff’s personnel, and the blaze was contained at 5:20 a.m., officials said.

Cronk said the fire is the second arson at Temple Adat Elohim in less than three weeks.

Minor damage was caused March 11 when a door was set afire. The temple has also been the target of anti-Semitic graffiti in recent months.

Marty Ricks, president of the temple’s board of directors, said Sunday’s fire suggests a pattern of anti-Semitic vandalism.

“Whoever is doing this doesn’t want to give up. It’s somebody who really wants to burn us down,” he said. “Up until this occurrence, I thought it was just kids trying to have some fun. It is more than that.”

Board member Sandy Greenstein of Agoura said there were no slurs or swastikas spray-painted on the walls, as occurred in February and during last year’s Hanukkah season.

Another Thousand Oaks synagogue, Temple Etz Chaim, and Temple Beth Torah in Ventura were defaced during Hanukkah by spray-painted anti-Jewish slurs.

About the same time, a Hanukkah display was stolen from the front of a Jewish family’s residence in Agoura Hills.

A firebomb gutted a synagogue at the Yeshiva Aish HaTorah Institute in North Hollywood on Jan. 10, causing an estimated $120,000 damage.

No arrests have been made.

After Sunday’s fire, 10 members of Temple Adat Elohim arrived at the A-frame building and spent the third day of Passover removing debris and boarding up holes.

The temple has a congregation of 400 families, most of whom live in Thousand Oaks, Agoura and Westlake.

Ricks said the fire makes him wonder whether the temple should remain active in the community.

“Things like this happen, and you wonder: Should we be out at the forefront or more low-key?” he said.

Temple Adat Elohim belongs to a partnership of local churches and synagogues that provides food and temporary housing to the homeless from December through March.

Sunday night, it was the temple’s turn to host the program, which serves up to 20 people. The program was held in an undamaged wing.

“It is not going to interrupt anything,” Greenstein said. “Tomorrow morning, the preschool will be in effect. Next Friday we will have services. Of course, we won’t have access from the east side of the building and to the women’s bathroom.”

Rabbi Alan Greenbaum called the fire “an unfortunate incident of vandalism.”

“As we speak, we are patching it up,” Greenbaum said. “It won’t stop us.”