TORONTO (JTA) — After opening a new building, Ottawa's Jewish community center voted to continue its policy of remaining closed on Shabbat, according to the Canadian Jewish News.

Approximately two-thirds of North American JCCs are open part of the day on Shabbat. However, most close their business offices and refrain from running organized activities "that wouldn't be in the spirit of Shabbat," said Mitchell Jaffe, director of community services for the Jewish Community Centers Association of North America.

Uzbek synagogue, Torahs destroyed

MOSCOW (JTA) — A fire set by vandals razed a synagogue in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan and destroyed five of its eight Torah scrolls.

Nobody was injured in Monday night's incident, Yom Kippur, at the Bukharan Synagogue in Tashkent. The synagogue has received financial support from Lev Levayev, an Israeli diamond mogul from the former Soviet Union.

Police are investigating the attack, but have not detained any suspects.

Meanwhile, a Moscow court ordered prosecutors to reopen a case against an author and publisher of anti-Semitic works, according to the local office of the Anti-Defamation League.

Jewish groups in Moscow protested after the case against Victor Kortchagin for inciting ethnic hatred was closed last December.