Police in Beit Shemesh, located southwest of Jerusalem, suspect that Arabs were behind the burglaries of two homes, one of them belonging to new immigrants from Baltimore, Maryland.
Penina Taylor (Tal-Or), who works as the director of the "Jews for Judaism" anti-missionary outreach organization, said she woke up as usual around 5:30 a.m. and discovered that many of their possessions, including her wallet and three laptops, had been stolen during the night.
She initially suspected that young Jewish immigrants who often are involved in petty thefts were behind the burglary. However, police investigators noted that burglars also broke into a neighbor's house, where food was stolen from the refrigerator, a modus operandi of Arabs.
Taylor explained that no food was taken from her refrigerator because it was almost empty except for some salads.
Despite the ordeal, she is grateful that her family slept through the burglary. "After I found out they probably were Arabs, I was happy the noise did not wake me up. I would not have wanted to go downstairs" and possibly meet a worse fate, she said. 
I was happy the noise did not wake me up. I would not have wanted to go downstairs" and possibly meet a worse fate.
The Taylors already have experienced a challenging aliyah since leaving Baltimore two years ago. They left the community of Kochav Yaakov last year to take advantage of urban services at Beit Shemesh.
The burglary has left their teenaged children without Game-Boys and laptops that the family had bought to ease their process of adjusting to a new environment. Their 20-year-old son plans to marry January 1.
Investigators did not find any clear fingerprints but found muddy footprints leading from the back of the house to a nearby open field, where a waiting car apparently helped the thieves to flee.
Taylor praised the police not only for a thorough investigation but also for coming to the family home to write a complaint of the incident instead of making the family follow standard operating procedure and come to the police station.