MONTICELLO – It’s up to God as to if the holy Torah scroll stolen from The Landfield Avenue Synagogue in Monticello over a week ago is recovered. That is the belief of the synagogue’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Benzion Chanowitz.
Over 100 people, Jews and Christians alike, attended a Sunday rally in support of the house of worship and locating the Torah.
Rabbi Chanowitz suggested the burglary and theft was a hate crime and he said it is unfortunate the congregation will have to take action.
“We will have to put on alarms and timers and we are going to start putting in cameras, we will have to change windows, and why, why can’t we live in peace?” he questioned.
Monticello Police Chief Douglas Solomon has his own theory as to who the scroll was stolen.
“This is definitely done, in my opinion, to instill fear and send a bad message to the religious community,” he said. “Crimes like this are horrific to say the least and it’s troublesome and that’s all the more reason why we have to bring this to a successful conclusion,” he said.
The chief said they are working on a number of leads in the case.
Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther lent her support to the effort.
“This is really a great community and when something happens to one of us, it happens to our entire community,” she said.
Rabbi Chanowitz is now seeking donations so the synagogue could buy another Torah, which costs in the tens of thousands of dollars. The scroll is hand scribed by a religious scholar on a special parchment paper.
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