Thieves stole 12 Torah scrolls from the Grand Synagogue of Levallois (ACCIL) on the outskirts of Paris on Sunday night, the synagogue’s rabbi and the Jewish Community Protection Service (SPCJ) reported Monday.
Two suspects broke into the building and stole the scrolls, even though the premises were protected by cameras and extensive surveillance systems, according to reports.
Rabbi Chalom Lellouche said he had discovered the theft on Monday morning while preparing to host a bar mitzvah. As soon as he reported it, the SPCJ conducted a thorough search of the premises and notified the police.
“It was with shock and anger that I learned this morning that the Jewish community of Levallois had been struck at what is most sacred and precious to it,” Levallois Mayor Agnes Pottier-Dumas said.
The municipal and national police were immediately notified and have been working on the case since the morning, she said.
A sacrilegious act, that has shaken the Jewish community
“Whatever the motives of those who committed this sacrilegious act, which has profoundly shaken the Jewish community to its core, the antisemitic nature of this despicable crime must be denounced,” Pottier-Dumas said.
The thieves only targeted the Torah scrolls, and expensive objects of nonreligious value were left untouched, she said.
“We also hope that these sacred scrolls, whose value is beyond measure, can be recovered,” Pottier-Dumas said. “And for those who believe, we stand united in prayer with the Jewish community, [which was] wounded by this heinous act.”
Lellouche and Philippe Cohen, president of ACCIL Levallois, released a video that denounced the incident.
“It was clearly a criminal act, but also an antisemitic one,” the video said.
The assailants were clearly professionals, having successfully skirted the walls and evaded the security systems, it said, adding: “This is a spiritual trauma for all the Jewish community of France and, indeed, across the world.”