Torah Scrolls Worth $200K Stolen From Brooklyn Synagogue
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Nine scrolls of Torah were snatched from the Maase Rokach synagogue in Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood Sunday morning – a break-in robbery that police said involved four thieves.
According to The New York Times, the robbery took place early in the morning, and was only noticed later in the day, when someone in the synagogue observed that the door to the basement, where the sacred texts were stored, was damaged and numerous books were missing.
Stealing Torah scrolls can be a lucrative business, as the items are highly valuable — they are transcribed by hand on special animal skin and often covered with gold or silver.
A synagogue in Midwood had four Torah scrolls taken during the holiday of Simchat Torah last year – only to have the documents later returned in a black garbage bag. Other high-profile robberies have taken place in Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods home to large Orthodox Jewish communities, like Boro Park, Midwood and Far Rockaway.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
