Unidentified individuals on Sunday stole between 13 and 15 Torah scrolls valued at an estimated €80,000 to €100,000 ($90,000-$113,000) from the main synagogue in Levallois-Perret near Paris, local authorities said.
Two men entered the synagogue through a window using a rope before taking only the Torah scrolls. Surveillance cameras captured images of the suspects, Le Monde quoted Mayor Agnès Pottier-Dumas as saying.
Philippe Cohen, president of the local Jewish community association, described the theft as “a spiritual trauma for the entire Jewish community in France and around the world,” noting that no other property was damaged or stolen.
Rabbi Chalom Lellouche called the incident “an antisemitic act that targeted the Torah.”
The Hauts-de-Seine prefecture said the theft was “not a simple robbery” but an attack that deeply wounded the Jewish community. Police are investigating.
