MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- The FBI will launch an investigation into whether a fire that destroyed a Miami Beach synagogue Tuesday was an act of arson.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., on Wednesday asked FBI Director Robert Mueller to investigate if the fires at the Chabad House and another Miami Beach synagogue in October were hate crimes.

"We will do that," said Mueller, who was in Washington testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, of which Wasserman Schultz is a member.

Miami Beach firefighters were called to the Chabad House synagogue at 2401 Pinetree Drive at about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday to find the historic building, once home to the Miami Beach Women's Club, fully engulfed in smoke and flames.

The fire was out by the time the sun rose and Rabbi Zev Katz arrived. He found the inside of the building gutted. He took photographs of prayer books and prayer shawls tattered and burned.

Firefighters initially saw nothing to suggest arson, but the rabbi did, outside on the lawn. He found one of two rods that hold the synagogue's Torah, the holiest book of Judaism handled by congregants with ritual and care. It showed no signs of burn, though inside, the housing where it had been kept was destroyed.

The rabbi believes an arsonist stole the Torah and dropped one of its rods on the way out.

"I don't know the reason why this guy went into the synagogue, took the Torah and burned the shawl," said Katz. "I don't know if he hates Jews or if he's just meshugeh, as they say in Yiddish, crazy."

That discovery prompted fire officials to string crime tape around the building and begin a criminal probe into a possible hate crime, although police said to label it such at this point would be premature.

"There's certain things you look for right off the bat when there's a hate crime, and some of those things are missing," said a Miami Beach police spokesman.

Wasserman Schultz, who is Jewish, said the fact that the fire occurred during Passover and that there have been two synagogue fires in the past six months makes the fire suspicious. Although the Chabad House is outside her congressional district, many of its congregates live within her district.