Praying for Caleb Jacoby at the Kotel

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

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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.

Anne Cohen was the Forward’s deputy digital media editor. When she’s not looking for the secret Jewish history of Voodoo in New Orleans, or making lists about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she writes for The Assimilator. She graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism with an M.S. magazine concentration in 2012.

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