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.
A message from our CEO & publisher 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