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.”
Police Prefect Alexandre Brugère, who heads the prefecture of the region of Hauts-de-Seine that’s responsible for Levallois-Perret, met members of the local Jewish community on Tuesday, the prefecture wrote on X, along with elected delegates.
“In addition to this message of support, authorities are fully determined to find the perpetrators of this act and enable the return of the scrolls,” the prefecture added.
“The theft of Torah scrolls from the Great Synagogue of Levallois wasn’t just a simple crime; it wounded an entire community of believers to the depths of its soul,” the statement said.
