A thief broke into the car of an Atlanta rabbi over the weekend and stole the tefillin belonging to his son who had recently had his bar mitzvah.
The brazen midtown Atlanta theft was caught on a surveillance video.
“Whoever took it thought that they got some sort of purse or bag or something with some sort of universal value inside of it. It’s a Jewish ritual prayer item,” Rabbi Ari Sollish of Intown Jewish Academy told CBS46.
Rabbi Sollish described his son as “devastated” about his tefillin being stolen.
“His bar mitzvah was just a few months ago, so this was his tefillin. Typically when you get your tefillin, it’s for life,” Rabbi Sollish said. “It’s a hand-crafted, unique item that just can’t be replicated with a push of a button.”
He added that the theft caused a “sense of violation, of being violated.”
“Your property or things are being violated. Let alone, when it’s something so holy and spiritual, so part of the Jewish ritual,” Sollish said.
He is worried that the thief might not understand that tefillin are a sacred religious item and could have thought it had no value and thrown it in the garbage. The family said they are praying for its return.
“It’s a hand-crafted, unique item that just can’t be replicated with a push of a button,” he said.