 |  |
Click for Contents
|
P.O. Box 1805,Jerusalem 91017 Tel. 972-2-531-5440, Fax: 972-2-537-9489 Advertising Fax: 972-2-531-5425, Email Editorial: [email protected] Subscriptions: [email protected] Web site: http://www.jrep.com |
Beware the Light-Fingered Tourists
Rachel Levy / Amsterdam
 (Jaime Halegua) |
Who's ripping off the great synagogues of Europe? If Dutch Jewish suspicions are anything to go by, one answer could well be two Israeli con artists in long, shabby raincoats who pass themselves off as religious tourists or company reps looking for a place to pray and then help themselves to the silverware.
In a wave of thefts reported this winter, synagogues in Holland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria have lost ritual objects and decorations worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in the rapidly rising Judaica market. In Budapest, thieves added insult to injury and filched the air-conditioning - and just about everything else - from the Lubavitcher synagogue.
The stricken communities have sent out warnings to congregations across the continent, and the Dutch police have alerted Christie�s and Sotheby�s, the leading auction houses that handle Judaica. "The theft of religious silver objects is relatively rare," says Moshe Brown, Christie�s worldwide Judaica consultant, who lives near Amsterdam. "Each of these objects is unique and can be easily identified if there are photographs. But without a picture it�s hard to prove ownership."
The thieves, whether the same duo or others, have been most active in the Netherlands (Jewish population now 25,000), trekking from city to city. Four valuable sets of silver rimonim (the candle-like fixtures that sheath the upper handles of Torah scrolls) disappeared in December and January from Orthodox and Liberal synagogues in Amsterdam (including the celebrated Esnoga Portuguese synagogue), The Hague and Scheveningen.
"It�s outrageous," says Rabbi David Lilienthal, a leading Liberal rabbi in Amsterdam. "Apparently, some people don�t respect synagogues and their property."
The 17th-century Esnoga synagogue here houses one of the world�s most important Judaica collections and receives a stream of tourists throughout the year. Despite constant surveillance by security guards and video cameras, a set of 18th- or 19th-century rimonim was found missing on December 24, during preparations for Shabbat. The congregation�s president, David Cohen Paraira, estimates the value of the items - "not one of our best sets" - at $75,000. This was the Esnoga�s first theft in 20 years.
So far, the police are treating the disappearances as unrelated incidents. But in a letter circulated to all Dutch congregations, the national Orthodox leadership points a finger at two unkempt Israeli "tourists." They were spotted first at a Jewish old people�s home in Scheveningen, where they asked to pray in its synagogue and take pictures. An unsuspecting elderly Jew showed them around and left them alone for a few minutes. Not until Shabbat, a few days later, did the congregants discover that two sets of rimonim were missing. One of the sets, with gilded crowns, weighing an estimated one kilogram, dates from the 18th century.
The thieves weren�t always so lucky. From Scheveningen the same duo are suspected of having called the Jewish community of Rotterdam, but its secretary, Hans Polak, sent them packing. "I told them I had no time to show them around," he says. "They came anyway, but I didn�t let them in."
Rabbi Shmuel Katzman met them in The Hague�s Orthodox synagogue the next day. "Many Israelis visit the synagogue," he relates, "but somehow I didn�t trust these guys. They presented themselves as religious, yet they weren�t interested in the times of the services. Instead they asked how many synagogues there were in The Hague and where they were located." Katzman felt uncomfortable and did not leave them alone in the building.
The synagogue of Leiden was visited twice, apparently by the same pair. First they met the local community�s secretary, Leo Levie, telling him they were representatives of the Israeli chocolate manufacturer Elite. Levie let them in and also left them alone to pray. Nothing was stolen.
They returned the next day and met Theo Dunkelgr�n, a resident of the adjoining Jewish students� home. "I felt something strange about them," he says, "but I couldn�t put my finger on it. I let them pray but stayed with them all the time."
The Liberal synagogue in The Hague, formerly a Portuguese Jewish house of worship, didn�t get off so lightly when it was hit in mid-January. "One of our Torah scrolls was being repaired," says Rabbi Ruben Bar-Ephraim. "So we�d put the rimonim aside at the bottom of the holy ark. Now they�re gone." Then the rabbi remembered a story published in the "Dutch Jewish Weekly" about two Israeli men robbing Dutch synagogues, and a bell rang.
"I suddenly remembered how, a few weeks ago, I was working in my office, on the first floor of our community building, when a young man appeared," he says. "He was about 5 feet 6 inches tall, between 20 and 30 years old, typical Israeli looks, dark hair, unshaven, wearing a long coat and glasses. He said he wanted to see the building. One of our staff remembered that the man was accompanied by another Israeli."
To the dismay of Dutch Jews, the police are treating the disappearances of ritual objects as separate mysteries. Only the last set of Torah crowns, taken from the Liberal synagogue in The Hague, has been registered as "stolen"; the others are listed simply as "missing." Amsterdam police spokesman Cees Rameau explains: "There are no signs of a break-in at the Esnoga synagogue, so according to our standards this is not a criminal case."
The Budapest thieves left no such doubts. On Saturday, December 11, the last day of Hanukkah, the Lubavitcher synagogue was stripped bare. "We were there till about 10 p.m., celebrating Shabbat and Hanukkah," recalls Rabbi Baruch Oberlander. "When we returned the next day at 7:30, for morning services, we discovered there had been a burglary. They took away everything we had: all our rimonim - two Torah crowns and three sets of bells - 15 to 20 other silver pieces like candelabras, two Torah-pointers, 25 pairs of tefillin, our Scroll of Esther, the parochet (curtain), the decorated bimah cloth, the me�ilim (coats) covering our Torah scrolls and even the air-conditioning."
The rabbi immediately called the police. "When they came," he smiles, "we were in the middle of a celebration - two of our members had their 25th wedding anniversary - and we were all singing and dancing. They were a little surprised to see us so happy in this naked synagogue."
Oberlander believes that the stolen objects are very valuable. "Our synagogue is 125 years old. It became a Chabad synagogue only eight years ago, and we used all its original belongings. I don�t know their precise age, but I think the rimonim were at least a hundred years old."
In mid-January, the Hungarian police showed Oberlander pictures of Judaica they had found elsewhere. "There were four sets of rimonim," the rabbi says. "Alas, they are not ours."
Jewish World
|
 |
|
© The Jerusalem Report 1999-2001 |  |