Five Torahs Valued at Up To $250,000 Stolen From Brooklyn Synagogue
Five torahs valued at up to $50,000 a piece were stolen from a synagogue in Brooklyn yesterday morning, saddening congregants and the area’s Jewish community. Police said the burglar may have entered the Karlsburg Synagogue (also known as the Khal Yirei Hashem Synagogue) in the Borough Park neighborhood through either an open or unlocked window. Two silver crowns and two silver breastplates stored with the scrolls were also taken.
Assemblyman Dov Hikind and City Councilman David G. Greenfield announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the robber.
“This is a very shocking thing to the entire community,” Hikind said in an interview with The New York Times. “A Torah is so sacred and so holy, it’s really very painful.” According to the article, employees of the synagogue said a surveillance camera on a neighboring building captured a license plate on a suspicious vehicle that was parked outside the synagogue just before the theft.
Community leader Jack Meyer said it may have been an inside job, according to the New York Daily news. “We’re unsure if it was someone within the congregation, but quite a number of people knew the combination to the safe and many people have keys,” he said.
The synagogue is located on 53rd street between 15th and 16th Avenues.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
