Roslyn Heights firefighter saved Torah from Greenvale fire

A Roslyn Heights firefighter’s quick thinking recently saved a sacred Torah from a blaze in Greenvale.

Michael Farca, a volunteer with the Roslyn Highlands Fire Company, was among the first responders June 4 during a fire in a strip mall that was home to the Chabad of Greenvale. A Sefer Torah, which is a handwritten scroll that contains the text of the Five Books of Moses and is read during Jewish prayers, was in the building’s basement, he said.

Farca, who is Jewish, found himself inside the synagogue while clearing the two-story structure and said he instinctively looked in the ark, an ornate cabinet that houses Torah scrolls. Upon spotting the scroll, he wrapped it in nearby silk scarves and carried it to safety, he said.

“The truth is, I’m not a lone guy in this because there were 60-plus guys who were putting out this fire with me,” said Farca, 54. “They’re all heroes.”

Farca, a general contractor and owner of Excelsior Design & Construction, began his service as a volunteer firefighter four years ago after looking for an outlet to give back to his community. Since joining the fire department, he estimates he has responded to dozens of structural fires and more than 100 car fires while also recently obtaining his state certification to be an emergency medical technician.

The Greenvale fire was electrical in nature and not deemed suspicious, according to Nassau County Chief Fire Marshal Michael Uttaro. It broke out at about 6:30 a.m. with “heavy smoke billowing out the front of the building,” Farca said. The firefighter was part of a team assigned to clear the interior and recalls “huffing and puffing” when he left the burning structure, which he said was likely near 150 degrees inside.

“I was just spent, energywise, and I started sucking down water,” Farca recalled. “Maybe seven or eight minutes later, I caught my breath and some guy comes up to me and said, ‘Hi, I’m part of the synagogue; do you have the Torah?’ ’’

The man who approached Farca was the congregation’s president, Igor Shamalov, who said he was “very grateful” for the firefighter’s fearless efforts. Shamalov said he is spearheading a fundraiser on the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe to help relocate the congregation, which he said is only a couple of years old and consists of about 50 people.

It is considered “like someone died if a Torah scroll burns in a fire, so the fact that he was able to pull it out with no damage was a miracle,” said Shamalov, who estimated the scroll’s value at about $50,000. “Saving this Torah was like saving a life.”

By Michael R. Ebert

michael.ebert@newsday.com

Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.