Rabbi Heidi Cohen chokes up as she speaks about what she and her congregation at Temple Beth Sholom in Santa Ana have been through over the last year and a half.

On Feb. 15, 2014, a malfunctioning refrigerator sparked a huge fire in the temple kitchen. It caused extensive smoke and water damage to the sanctuary and to the ornamental holy ark, which held six torahs including a 275-year-old scroll from the Czech Republic which had been rescued from a Nazi warehouse after World War II.

Overnight, they were reduced to a wandering congregation.

“Have torah, will travel,” Cohen said with a laugh. “We had every intention of continuing our services and raising the money we needed to rebuild our temple.”

Members of the congregation, which was founded in 1943 and is the oldest Reform Jewish synagogue in Orange County, have raised about $7.5 million since the fire to completely rebuild the sanctuary and the adjoining social hall.

At 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, the congregation will gather at the temple for the first time since the fire to host a Return & Renewal, signifying their journey back home. During the ceremony, which is expected to draw about 800 people, a blessing called the She’he’cheyanu will be said.

“It’s to thank God for giving us life, sustaining us and enabling us to reach this moment in time,” Cohen said.

In the last year, a number of other Jewish congregations came forward to help them.

But the most heartwarming offer came from the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a Mormon congregation on Yorba Street, less than a mile from Temple Beth Sholom.

Stake president Matt Goodman said the decision to help the Jewish congregation was unanimous.

“We saw a congregation in a time of need,” he said. “If we were in their shoes, we would’ve liked it if someone helped us.”

The worship schedules worked well. The Mormon congregation gathered on Sundays and the Jewish congregation had services Friday nights. Cohen said the Mormon church graciously accommodated their every need – be it for special services during the High Holy Days, bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies or a six-week summer program for children.

“Every time we were there, they would have a volunteer to host us and make us feel comfortable there,” Cohen said.

The church’s sanctuary had minimal Christian symbols and the interior was the same color as the temple, so the visiting congregation felt right at home, the rabbi said. Cohen said she made it a point to invite the church’s volunteer hosts into the temple’s Sabbath services and offered the special challah bread from Sabbath dinner to the Mormon host family.

“There was a lot of bonding among members of the two congregations, which was wonderful to watch,” Cohen said.

During the rededication Sunday, members of the Jewish congregation will march around the 5-acre temple campus carrying the six torahs before returning the scrolls to the ark in the sanctuary.

Of the six torahs, three have been restored by local scribes. The Czech scroll will also be repaired, Cohen said. But two other torahs, which are irreparably damaged, will likely be buried as is the custom, and replaced, she said.

The older torahs, including the one recovered from the Nazi warehouse, were written on parchment with organic ink from berries and tree sap, glazed with honey to give the writing a sheen.

“We were lucky because the torahs are made to last for hundreds of years,” said the rabbi, who has extended an invitation to the entire Mormon congregation for Sunday’s ceremony.

In past few months, the congregations have learned something else about their common history. Fifty years ago, Temple Beth Sholom took in the Mormon congregation when its sanctuary was under construction, Goodman said.

“So in a sense,” he said, “the blessing they gave us years ago, we were able to return in God’s time.”

Contact the writer: 714-796-7909 or dbharath@ocregister.com