Updated – Rabbi Busted By Cops After Simchat Torah Scrolls Heist

Seven torah scrolls were stolen from the synagogue of Moshav Brosh in southern Israel during Simchat Torah, and police reportedly believe the synagogue’s very own rabbi helped steal the scrolls.

 

Rabbi Busted By Cops After Simchat Torah Scrolls Heist
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Seven torah scrolls were stolen from the synagogue of Moshav Brosh in southern Israel during Simchat Torah, and police believe the synagogue’s very own rabbi helped steal the scrolls, the Times of Israel reported.

According to police, as his congregation danced with all of the synagogue’s Torah scrolls, thieves working with the moshav’s rabbi took the Torah scrolls, replacing the real scrolls with cardboard rolled to the same shape.

Police arrested the rabbi on Tuesday after congregants discovered the thefts and confronted the rabbi.

Moshav Brosh has fewer than 500 residents, many of them Jews with Moroccan ancestry. It also has two Chabad centers, one of which is a day school.

Although it is unclear what affiliation the rabbi and the synagogue actually have, Sefardi Torah scrolls are kept inside individual heavy wooden cases, while Ashkenazi and hasidic Torah scrolls are covered by individual velvet cloth covers. The description of the method of the theft appears to indicate that it was Ashkenazi or hasidic Torahs that were stolen.

Update 10:30 am CDT – It seems the Times of Israel got the story wrong even though all it was doing was rewriting reports first written by other publications. That means my story based on the Times of Israel report is also wrong. (Hint to Times of Israel editor: Perhaps it would be wise for you to hire staff that can actually both read and write in a literate fashion. Of course, judging by your time at the Jerusalem Post, that may be beyond your pay grade.)

The JTA has an accurate reconstruction of what happened based on three Hebrew language news sources, Ma'ariv (NRG), Ynet, and Behadrei Haredim. Here's the key excerpt:

…According to a report on the Hebrew edition of the news site Ynet, the rabbi –- who was not mentioned by name -– had confessed to taking seven Torah scrolls from the synagogue of Brosh, a moshav north east of the city in Israel's south.

The alleged theft was discovered on Simchat Torah, on Oct. 8. In many Orthodox and Conservative congregations, this is the only time of year when Torah scrolls are taken out of the ark. Worshipers then dance with the scrolls as part of the Hakafot ceremony, and some read the scrolls at night. 

In Brosh, the worshipers opened the ark at the request of a boy who wanted to see the actual scroll, Ynet reported. Upon opening the ark, the worshipers found blank paper sheets which may have been placed inside for weight.…

Compare that to the following illiteracy from the Times of Israel:

Torah scrolls stolen during celebrations — allegedly by congregation’s rabbi
Police arrest Negev rabbi for switching precious parchments for cardboard as worshipers celebrated during Simchat Torah
By Stuart Winer and Sam Ser • The Times of Israel

Seven torah scrolls were stolen from a synagogue and replaced with rolls of paper and cardboard — by the congregation’s rabbi, police say – during Simchat Torah celebrations on Monday night.

The incident happened  in the small Negev town of Moshav Brosh. According to police, as revelers danced with Torah scrolls during the customary celebrations of the Simchat Torah festival, which began on Monday night, thieves made off with several of the precious parchments, estimated to be worth about NIS 500,000 ($129,523).

The robbers used rolls of paper with the same shape as Torah scrolls as decoys while they escaped.

Ofakim police arrested the synagogue’s rabbi on Tuesday, after worshipers confronted him about the deception.

To make the incompetence of the Times of Israel even worse, the photo used with above report is of Ashkenazi Torah scrolls, and the caption reads: "Israelis dance with Torah scrolls during the festival of Simchat Torah, September 2010." However, the stolen Torahs in this case probably were in Sefardi hard wooden cases, and the Times of Israel made no attempt to point that out. And that made it easy for readers to think that the theft happened at Chabad, not at the Moshav's main synagogue – which is Sefardi.

Comments

[David]

What is the Halachic punishment for such an act?

[I can't think of a name yet]

You know they weren't Haredi. If they were Haredi, the article would have explicitly stated that very important fact.

[Chief Hole-in-the-Sheet]

Based on local newpaper reports there are two apparent errors in the account given here.
1) The "klaf" was removed before Simchat Torah; only on Simchat Torah was the lack thereof discovered.
2) The sifrei torah were apparently sefaradi; that is what appears in the nrg photo - and it makes sense. With ashkenazi torahs with cloth mantel the replacement of the klaf would immediately be noticed. The sefardi torahs have a rigid cover with a snap-like closure - you have to consciously open them to see what was inside - that is what one of the "dancers" did.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Apologies:
Papa Was a Rolling Stone Lyrics
The Temptations

It was Simchat Torah.
That day we're dancing the hora, yes we do.
And that was the day that my rabbi fled.
I never got a chance to see him.
Never heard nothing but loshon harah 'bout him.
Moshe, I'm depending on you, tell me the truth.

And Moshe just hung his head and said:

(Chorus)
"Rebbe was a rolling scroll.
Wherever he laid his hat was his shul.
(And when he fled) All he left us was a mohel." 2x

Well, well.

Hey Moshe, is it true what they say,
that Rebbe never worked a day in his life?
And Moshe, bad talk going around town
saying that Rebbe had unfiltered internet and it caused the strife.
And that ain't right.
HEARD SOME talk about Rebbe doing some mussar preaching.
Talking about saving neshomehs and all the time leeching.
Dealing in swag and stealing in the name of the L-rd.

Mama just hung her head and said,
(Chorus)

Oy!

Hey Moshe, I heard Rebbe call himself a jack of no trade.
Tell me is that what sent taxpayers to a foaming rage?
Folk say Rebbe would beg, borrow, steal to pay his bill.
Hey Moshe, folk say that Papa was never much on thinking.
Spent most of his time making kiddish and drinking.
Moshe, I'm depending on you to tell me the truth.

Moshe looked up with a tear in his eye and said,

(Chorus, 2x)

[Lo K'darkah]

Very good YL. Actually sang it out to myself.
What were they planning to do with the Torah scrolls? Sell them on eBay or just take them to the local pawn shop or offer them to black-market collectors and middlemen who deal in sifrei Torah or just hold them in a safety deposit box until things calmed down and set up a stall at the shuk?

[Yosef ben Matitya]

actually, most moroccan congregations, handle their scrolls the same way ashkenazim do, i.e. not in wooden cases.
the wooden cases are middle eastern in origin and not universally used by sefaradim.

[Yosef ben Matitya]

as mentioned by Chief Hole etc...
the photo in nrg, shows indeed sifrei torah in wooden cases.

[Chief Hole-in-the-Sheet]

Nope, YbM, you got it wrong. I have been in many Moroccan (and other North African) shuls in Beer Sheva over the years, and never saw a sefer torah not in a rigid case.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Thanks, LKD.

[Yosef ben Matitya]

Chief Hole-in-the-Sheet

suggest u inquire with born in morocco moroccans.
no point disputing you as u have been etc...
in israel, often a shul is built by donor so and so. as he is building for sefardi clientele he will deliver scrolls in wooden cases.

[Abraham]

Clearly a Chabad conspiracy. When will they learn!

[Yosef ben Matitya]

Chief Hole-in-the-Sheet II

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sefer_Torah

In the Mizrachi and Romaniote traditions, the Sefer Torah is generally not robed in a mantle, but rather housed in an ornamental wooden case which protects the scroll, called a "tik". On the other hand, most Sephardi communities — those communities associated with the Spanish diaspora, such as Moroccan Jews, the Spanish and Portuguese Jews (with the exception of the Hamburg tradition[4]), and the Judaeo-Spanish (Ladino-speaking) communities of the Ottoman Empire — do not use tikim, but rather vestidos (mantles).

[rebitzman]

In many Orthodox and Conservative congregations, this is the only time of year when Torah scrolls are taken out of the ark.

I assume they mean except on Shabbes mornings, Holidays, Monday mornings, Thursday mornings and Saturday nights..........

[Lubavitchers are Christians]

Shmarya,

You are upset with the Times of Israel for showing a picture of an Ashkenazi scroll, when the theft was actually with Sfardi scrolls. You are insinuating that the Times of Israel misled its readers.

Yet, you did the same thing!

When you reported the rock-throwing by secular youth on Yom Kippur, you showed a picture of haredim throwing stones. You were trying to mislead your readers, except that your readers corrected you. But you never removed the picture of the haredim.

In fact, you included a line in your report, stating that "haredim are increasingly moving to those areas". You were trying to mislead your readers and insinuate that haredim were involved.

Hypocrisy.

For your reference:

http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2012/09/jews-stone-cars-on-yom-kippur-456.html

[Bassy the Haredi Slayer]

Do not know much about the writers of Times of Israel, but one of the writers of the scrolls story has another story about patchouli and unit 202 of the parachuters division:

http://www.timesofisrael.com/paratroopers-cry-foul-over-banned-perfume-charm/

The controversy stems from the talisman’s dubious history. Tradition has it that during the 1980s, members of the unit intercepted and defeated a terrorist group, killing all of its members except one. The wounded terrorist was found to have a small golden jug tied around his neck which, he told the soldiers, contained a tiny sample of his girlfriend’s most intimate fluids.

The soldiers decided to adopt similar perfume jugs as talismans. Although these days the content of the jug is more likely to be a sample of their girlfriend’s perfume, commanders decided to ban the offensive item.

[Shmarya]

Posted by: Lubavitchers are Christians | October 10, 2012 at 12:19 PM

Idiot.

The Times of Israel screwed up every fact except three: Torah scrolls at Moshav Brosh were stolen and cops say the rabbi did it.

Everything else they wrote is wrong, even though the sources they relied on were accurate.

In my case, the source I relied on was not completely accurate.

Past that, as I clearly noted in this post, the main problem is what the Times of Israel wrote – not the picture.

The picture is only a problem because of the poorly written article.

[Lubavitchers are Christians]

Oh, so now the misleading picture is only wrong in "certain" situations.

Come on, Shmarya, who are you fooling?

The Times of Israel was wrong for misleading its readers with misleading pictures (among all its other misleading information.) And you were wrong for misleading your readers with misleading pictures, and with a misleading line you inserted at the end of your report, insinuating that haredim were the ones throwing rocks on Yom Kippur.

Whatever. It doesn't matter. I didn't expect you to admit that you're a hypocrite. Hypcorites actually believe that they are right even when they are blatantly hypocritical.

[chabad rabbis are thieves . no doubt .]

chabad rabbis are thieves .

when you meet a chabad rabbi, automatically think , AND KEEP IN MIND , that he is a thief and you are dealing with a thief .

[Shmarya]

Posted by: Lubavitchers are Christians | October 10, 2012 at 02:11 PM

You're a fool. A certifiable fool.

Again, the Times of Israel took several correct reports and completely screwed them up.

I based what I wrote on one report that turned out to be poorly done.

The Times of Israel compounded their multiple, egregious errors by using a photo of Ashkenazi Torahs, when the theft was apparently of Sefardi Torahs – and that made Chabad look guilty when it wasn't.

If the reports the Times of Israel used as the basis for its story had been wrong, then the Times of Israel would not have been at fault for using the picture it did without proper qualification.

But as I've noted a couple times already, that was not the case here.

No toddle off.

[Rebitzman]

Yet, you did the same thing!

Maybe - maybe not.

The report and subsequent confirmation that the rock throwers were not Haredi all came from the same IP - which does not provide a great deal of credibility to your source.

[ah-pee-chorus]

In many Orthodox and Conservative congregations, this is the only time of year when Torah scrolls are taken out of the ark.

I assume they mean except on Shabbes mornings, Holidays, Monday mornings, Thursday mornings and Saturday nights..........

Posted by: rebitzman

i think what was meant is that in many shuls there are 5,6,8, or 10 different torahs, some of which are even known to be passul. they may use only 3 as part of their regular rotation, and the rest only come out of the ark on simchas torah.

[Korben Dallas]

I can't log in to TypePad using my twitter right now so this will have to do.

Just wanted to remind everyone that this current crop of rabbis are the worst leaders the Jewish will ever have to deal with.