Image by Walla!

The Municipality of Jerusalem allowed dozens of haredi Orthodox volunteers to search through one of its garbage trucks, after a young woman accidentally threw her engagement ring in a city trash container.

The search was conducted Thursday at several locales, including on a public square in the predominantly haredi Orthodox neighborhood of Geula, west of Me’a She’arim, the news site news.walla.co.il reported. The ring, which has a diamond and is worth several thousand dollars, was accidentally thrown into the kitchen garbage can of the bride-to-be’s home and from there emptied out to a municipal dumpster, whose content were put into the garbage truck.

Contacted by the family, the municipality instructed the driver to unload the truck’s contents near the city’s designated waste disposal site. By that time, the family had recruited the volunteers who sifted through more than two tons of garbage for hours, but were unable to locate the ring. Smaller searches were conducted around the container, to rule out the possibility that the ring was in a number of garbage bags that did not make it into the truck that morning.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Meanwhile, the truck’s waste compartment and its mechanism were taken apart at a municipal auto service point and inspected, but the ring was not found in the truck, either.

On Friday, the family called off the search, after the volunteers returned the checked garbage to the municipal garbage container that had been emptied into the truck earlier on Thursday.

The bride-to-be is to marry next month. The family offered a $300 reward for anyone who returns the ring.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re near the end of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 21.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Make a Passover Gift Today!

$90 $180

$360

Other amount