Jeff Jacoby breaks silence on son's disappearance

The Jewish Boston Globe columnist whose son went missing for four days earlier this month broke his silence on Wednesday, describing the "amazing community" that helped his family get through the nerve-wracking experience.

In a column titled, "Blessed by an 'Amazing Community,'" Jeff Jacoby describes the gut-churning anxiety that washed over him and his wife, Laura, when they realized their eldest son Caleb was missing.

"What are you supposed to do when your teenager has been gone for hours — six hours, 12 hours, 24 hours — and hasn’t been seen or heard from?" he writes. "When you’ve called in the police and given them all the information you can think of? When you’ve checked your child’s usual haunts and come up dry? When his friends, realizing that something is wrong, are beginning to sound the alarm on Facebook and Google Chat? And when the temperature outside is in the single digits — and falling?"

The reasons for Caleb Jacoby's disappearance remain unknown, though police have said the teen ran away from home, and have closed their investigation, The Forward reported.

Still, Jeff Jacoby said what helped them pull through during the 80 hours of Caleb's disappearance was the support of friends, fellow members of the Brookline, Mass., Jewish community – and even strangers, "many of whom were prepared to drop everything and go anywhere they were needed to search for a teen they didn’t know from a city many had never been to," he writes.

"During the worst ordeal of our lives, my family experienced the best that human beings are capable of," Jacoby concludes. "That was a blessing I’ll never forget, or ever cease being grateful for."