Praying for Caleb Jacoby at the Kotel
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Anne Cohen January 9, 2014
The search for missing 16-year-old Jewish day school student Caleb Jacoby is still underway, with more and more people taking to social media to pray for the teenager’s safe return. Even in faraway Israel, concerned strangers sent out messages of hope and comfort, with some going as far as praying for Caleb’s safe return at the Western Wall.
Just returning from the #kotel praying for Caleb Jacoby’s safe return to his family. @Jeff_Jacoby
ampmdash; Gilad (@gilad73) January 9, 2014
Am going to Western Wall to pray 4 safe return of missing Boston teen Caleb Jacoby. If u have something u want me 2 pray for, tweet or DM.
ampmdash; Ephraim Gopin (@fundraisinisfun) January 9, 2014
“At the Western Wall in #Jerusalem. Praying for Caleb Jacoby safe return,” Ephraim Gopin wrote as a caption to this Instagram photo:
Alex Edelman, whose brother Austin is Caleb’s best friend, described the Brookline Police’s surprise at the international response in the Atlantic:
“Police have told Maimonides parents that they’ve never seen this degree of interest in a missing person. They’ve received calls from strangers in Israel who are ready to fly over and carefully comb the streets of Brookline with the Maimonides classmates who are searching for him, house-to-house, in below-freezing weather.”
The son of Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby, Caleb was last seen at 12:30 pm on Monday. Over 200 volunteers helped out in the on-the-ground search effort spearheaded by Brookline’s Maimonides school on Tuesday.
Late Wednesday night, Jeff Jacoby tweeted his awe and thanks at the outpouring of prayers and support.
Never have the words “prayers” & “praying” so dominated my email inbox. The outpouring of concern for Caleb has been incredibly heartening.
ampmdash; Jeff Jacoby (@Jeff_Jacoby) January 9, 2014
Brookline Police Captain Thomas Keaveney told MassLive.com that law enforcement was “leaning more toward” treating the case as a runaway, rather than an abduction.
Anyone with information is being asked to call the Brookline Police Department at 617-730-2222.
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.
