Mississippi fire suspect called the temple a ‘synagogue of Satan’
Stephen Spencer Pittman was charged on Monday in the attack on Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson
Soot and smoke damaged the entire building of Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Mississippi. Courtesy of Beth Israel Congregation
By Louis Keene and Benyamin CohenJanuary 12, 2026
A man who confessed to setting fire to a historic Mississippi temple on Saturday told law enforcement it was the “synagogue of Satan.”
Stephen Spencer Pittman was charged Monday with damaging or destroying a building by means of fire or an explosive. Security camera footage from Beth Israel Congregation — the only synagogue in Jackson, the state capital — showed a hooded figure pouring accelerant inside the building’s library before lighting a fire.
The fire ripped through Beth Israel shortly after 3 a.m. on Saturday, destroying the library, two Torahs, and offices, leaving parts of the surrounding building blackened and charred. The main sanctuary and five Torah scrolls inside sustained smoke damage. The building also houses the offices of the Institute of Southern Jewish Life.
Pittman was arrested Saturday evening, reportedly with severe burns. He confessed to his father, who contacted the FBI, according to an affidavit obtained by the Forward.
Text messages in the affidavit show Pittman texting his father details and photos after setting fire to the synagogue. According to the FBI, Pittman’s father pleaded with his son to return home.
Hours later, Pittman’s father confronted his son after observing burns on his ankles, hands and face. Pittman then confessed that he had started a fire, according to the affidavit, and “laughed as he told his father what he did and said he finally got them.”
His burned cell phone and a hand torch was discovered at the scene of the attack.
According to an FBI affidavit, Pittman called the institution the “synagogue of Satan” in an interview with authorities following his arrest. The court document described Pittman stopping at a local gas station, removing the license plate off his car, and buying gas to use to start the fire. When he arrived at the synagogue, he broke a window using an axe to get inside the building.
Beth Israel Congregation, which counts around 150 member families, has anchored Jewish life in Jackson since the Civil War, its history closely tracking both the growth of the city and the persistence of a small but visible Jewish community in Mississippi’s capital.
Founded in 1860, it is the state’s largest synagogue, and has been faced with attacks before. In September 1967, Ku Klux Klan members bombed the synagogue damaging a similar section of the building that was destroyed on Saturday. Around two months later, KKK members bombed the home of Rabbi Perry Nussbaum. He was not targeted at random: Nussbaum was deeply involved in the civil rights movement, had visited jailed Freedom Riders, and helped post bail for activists at a time when doing so carried real risk. No one was killed in the attacks.
