Mezuzah (illustration)
Mezuzah (illustration)Israel news photo: Flash 90

Jewish organizations in New York have expressed dissatisfaction that the Manhattan Police did not adequately address the complainant that a mezuzah, a scroll inscribed with religious texts mounted on the doorpost, was stolen from a rabbi's home.

According to Rabbi Tzvi Herschel Hertz, who resides in Manhattan’s Inwood neighborhood, his home is not the first in the area to have their mezuzah torn off its doorpost. He says three other apartments were targeted as well.

The rabbi added that local security cameras recorded three youths committing the act. Additional documentation reveals that while exiting the building, the group of boys removed the mezuzah out of its plastic casing, tossed the case aside, and kept the scroll.

"My landlord is Jewish. He saw the recording and said, 'If it is not an act of anti-Semitism, I do not know what is,’ this is an act of hate," said Rabbi Hertz.

After filing a complaint, Rabbi Hertz claims that officers were disrespectful and disregarded the incident as hardly being property theft.

According to him, only after involving local politicians and higher ranking officers did an investigation finally open.