On Shabbos morning, the 7th of Teves, members of the Pinsk-
Karlin Meorei Yisroel synagogue of the Neve Yaakov
neighborhood were shocked to discover that their shul had
been horribly vandalized. On Friday night, thugs broke into
the synagogue and burst into the safe where the sefer
Torah was locked. Taking out the sefer Torah, they
hurled it the ground in a most shameful manner. Footprints
were evident on the sefer Torah, Rachmono litzlan.
The members of the shul presume that the vandals were
searching for money and valuables. They broke into the shul
through an opening in its ceiling, ripped off tzedokoh
boxes which were affixed to the walls, and then emptied them.
They also took towels, coats and expensive equipment, and
broke down the door to the nearby mikveh in an effort
to find additional valuables.
The congregants, who arrived in the shul on Shabbos morning
were aghast by the disgraceful havoc wreaked by the depraved
vandals.
The shul's gabboim warned against the ineffectiveness
of the security devices used to safeguard the aron
hakodesh. Although the devices employed by the shul are
the customary ones used today, they are not strong enough in
the face of "professional" burglars who are capable of
dismantling the most sophisticated mechanisms.
This isn't the first time that synagogues in the neighborhood
were vandalized. Recently, five other synagogues were also
burglarized, and the chareidi and religious residents of the
neighborhood have demanded that the police department
increase its security patrols of the neighborhood, in order
to prevent the recurrence of such incidents. The shul's
gabboim filed a complaint with the police on motzei
Shabbos.
The police department told the gabboim that it lacks
the ability to cope with thieves who apparently come from
nearby Arab villages. However, they didn't rule out the
possibility that the burglary was conducted not by Arabs, but
by vandals who deliberately wanted to wreak havoc on the
shul, with robbery as a secondary motive. All possibilities
are being investigated by the police.
A massive prayer rally was held at the Meorei Yisroel shul at
two in the afternoon on the Fast of the 10th of Teves. At the
rally, which was attended by all of the talmud Torah
students of the Neve Yaakov neighborhood, Tehillim
were recited.
