A fire at a Chabad in Florida ahead of Rosh Hashanah that destroyed a classroom is being investigated as a hate crime, according to local police.

The fire broke out on Sept. 19 following Shabbat services at the Chabad of Charlotte County in Punta Gorda, Florida, charring a children’s classroom, according to the center’s director, Rabbi Simon Jacobson.

“This is terrible, but we will turn it into something positive,” Jacobson told local outlet The Daily Sun. “This to me is the epitome of darkness. The only way to get rid of darkness is to enhance the light, to do something good.”

Jacobson told the newspaper that in the classroom where the fire originated, police had found a broken window as well as traces of fuel both inside and outside of it. The letter “J” was also spray painted in blac

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