Every day, Rabbi Gerald Raiskin cracks open the ornate teak box in his synagogue’s chapel, hoping the centuries-old Iraqi Torah will be there.
And every day, he’s disappointed.
On Saturday, May 21, members of Peninsula Temple Sholom’s Sephardic minyan were left open-mouthed, when, in the midst of services, they opened the container and discovered the theft. Since the Torah had last been read at the minyan’s services on May 14, the theft presumably took place in the interim.
The congregation kept the lid on the disappearance for roughly a week, hoping the scroll would turn up. But word leaked out to the rumor mill and, shortly thereafter, to local media outlets by late last week.
“Every Torah scroll is important to us, it’s the constitution of our people. But this particular Torah has some antiquity,” said Raiskin.
The scroll, referred to as “The Iraqi Torah” by members of the Burlingame Reform congregation, was donated about 25 years ago by a congregant who said he bought it in London, where he was told it was written in Iraq more than 800 years ago.
Recently, Raiskin asked a Torah scribe for his estimate. The scribe guessed it was at least 600 years old. The Torah is written on some sort of animal pelt, and roughly 600 years ago scribes ceased printing on this material — it absorbs the ink, meaning the text will never crack or wear, but any mistake by the scribe is therefore uncorrectable and he’d have to start again.
Raiskin couldn’t offer Burlingame police a monetary value for the Torah, but he did note that the synagogue is paying $40,000 for a new scroll. He believes the stolen antique could only be worth more, perhaps much more.
The police have alerted area antique dealers to be on the lookout for the Torah, and have ruled the situation a straightforward theft and not a hate incident. Raiskin informed the Board of Rabbis of Northern California of the theft, who, in turn, notified 150 area rabbis to keep an eye out.
Within the teak container, the Iraqi Torah was stored, unadorned and without a mantle. Raiskin estimated the Torah was only about two feet high, and — printed on a soft, deer-like pelt — is rolled up very tightly. He noted that a thief easily could have slipped the rolled Torah into his or her jacket or a bag.
A second Torah and its silver mantles were left untouched next to the pilfered Torah’s empty container in the chapel’s Ark. This has led congregants to believe that the thief knew exactly what he or she was going after.
“In my mind, it would have to be someone who knew precisely where that Torah was,” said Jerry Ezrin, a congregant and the volunteer editor of Peninsula Temple Sholom’s newsletter. “The cover was unspectacular. Looking at it, it really doesn’t appear to be the prize. Whoever took this wanted that specific Torah.
“We sent out an e-mail to all our congregants and, needless to say, they’re dismayed and surprised and don’t know why anyone would do this.”
Raiskin said the temple has no plans to offer a reward for the Torah’s return, but would gladly call off a criminal investigation if the Torah shows up.
“If it’s returned, there’ll be no questions asked,” he said.
This is the first theft of a Torah at Peninsula Temple Sholom. In fact, the temple had taken to disabling an alarm system on the main Ark in its sanctuary because, more often than not, the alarm was only triggered when the Ark was opened during services.
That alarm is now on, Raiskin notes. Additionally, cameras will be installed in the main sanctuary and the chapel.
Meanwhile, in nearby Foster City, news of the Torah theft led Conservative Peninsula Temple Sinai to change its locks.