Kippah-Clad Fiend Swipes 4 Torah Scrolls Worth $200K From Brooklyn Synagogue
— Four Torah scrolls valued at approximately $240,000 were stolen from a Brooklyn synagogue during a holiday that honors the sacred texts.
Surveillance video showed a man in his 20s wearing a kippah entering the Avenue O Synagogue in the Midwood section and leaving with the scrolls during Simchat Torah, according to local news reports. The scrolls were taken at about 1 a.m. Tuesday. It is not known whether the thief is Jewish.
The Orthodox synagogue was locked at the time and it is not known how the man got into the building, according to reports.
New York City Councilman David Greenfield has offered a $1,000 reward to anyone that provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of “the despicable criminal who committed this crime,” Greenfield told WPIX-TV.
“We will not tolerate this outrageous criminal activity in our community,” he said.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
