[PHOTO LINK AT END OF ARTICLE] 11:35AM EST: At the start of this years annual “High Holiday” meeting conducted at 1 Police Plaza in NYC, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly publicly returned the eight Sifrei Torah which were recently stolen from a Synagogue in Queens.
As the meeting started, Commissioner Kelly had police officers proudly carry out the 8 Sifrei Torah onto the stage – and returned to the members of the Shul – amidst much cheering from the hundreds of Jewish Community Activists and NYPD Brass.
A detailed report about this mornings meeting, along with photos will be posted shortly.
PHOTO LINK: Click HERE for photos taken exclusively for YWN by Hillel Engel.
(Yehuda Drudgestein – YWN)
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5 Responses
With all of the horrible news coming out of the Muslim world and the tzaros of Wall Street it is wonderful to see such a story and to reaffirm our emunah peshutah.
In 1996 the NYPD and the DA’s office broke a sefer Torah theft ring that included a thief and a ‘fence’ who would sell the seforim. The fence’s lawyer tried to strike a deal by producing eight sifrei Torah that had been stolen. But those seforim did not match the descriptions provided to police by various kehilos; presumably, they had been stolen from other kehilos either outside of NY or from kehilos who had not realized they were stolen. Mamesh a ‘teiku,’ eight sifrei Torah in the hands of the police, with no one claiming ownership – yet they were certainly stolen from someone. Last I heard a few years ago, the NYPD arranged to have them held in a vault at YU for safekeeping until such time as they are claimed. The NYT reported most of this story when it broke.
What a contrast to what our parents and grandparents saw 70 years ago in Germany.
telegrok wrote about 8 stolen sifrei Torah returned in 1996 to NYPD but with no claimants, and that “the NYPD arranged to have them held in a vault at YU for safekeeping until such time as they are claimed.”
Our sefer Torah was stolen in 1992-3 from our shul in Eretz Yisroel. If the ganov took them to NY, it may be among those 8. Does anyone know who to contact in order to make a claim and to give simonim to retrieve our sefer Torah? A contact more specific than NYPD or YU .
Thank you, NYPD!