By Jennifer Warren
A Torah from a Kew Gardens Hill synagogue was stolen Sunday, police said, just as the congregation was preparing for the holiday of Shavuos, the Jewish celebration of receiving the torah at Mount Sinai.
The stolen Torah, taken from Temple Ohel Simcha at 141-41 72nd Ave., was valued in excess of $30,000 and was discovered missing Sunday night at 8:30 p.m. said Detective Madelyne Galindo, a police spokeswoman.
Galindo said no arrests had been made and the investigation was continuing.
The Torah was draped with a metallic breast-plate and crowned with an ornate head dress in traditional fashion.
The parchment scroll was reported missing by Rabbi Yigal Haimoff, who noticed it had been removed from the torah ark sometime after Saturday’s services, the New York Post reported.
“It’s a terrible thing. They’re not human,” Haimoff told the Post.
Congregants suspected the thief may have been someone familiar with the synagogue because the intruder tampered with security cameras fixed on the ark, the Post reported.
Observant Jews traditionally celebrate Shavuos by staying awake all night on the first eve of the holiday to study the Torah.
The oral tradition says the practice arose when the Torah was handed over to the Jewish people because they had fallen asleep and had to be raised from their slumber to receive the Scriptures.
In order to make amends for the original mistake of their forebears, current day congregations remain awake for the entire night reading and learning from the Torah scroll.
