RUTHERFORD, N.J. (PIX11) – Rabbi Yitzchok Lerman woke up to flames on Friday inside a New Jersey synagogue that he and his family, including four young children, had lived in.

“Our building went up in flames within minutes,” Lerman said.

He had been a rabbi at Congregation Beth El for 11 years, he told PIX11 News. The congregation had been in that synagogue since the 1950s, according to Lerman.

Police officers responded to 185 Montross Ave. around 3:45 a.m. as the massive inferno charred the place of worship. The rabbi and his family managed to escape the fire and run to a neighbor's house.

“Thank God everyone is safe. It’s a miracle that we’re all safe, that we got out in time,” Lerman said.

“I heard all the noise and I came out to see what’s going on,” Frank Wilson, a neighbor, told

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