Rabbi Chai Ratzabi, the rabbi of the “Mishkan Shalom” synagogue of the Yemenite community in Kadima-Zoran in central Israel, spoke this morning (Sunday) in an interview on Kan Reshet Bet about the destruction and vandalism discovered in the synagogue on Friday evening.
According to him, all the sacred books were completely vandalised, including Torah scrolls, prayer books, and chumashim. “All the books were torn. Page by page, they left nothing,” he described.
The rabbi said that he arrived at the synagogue before the start of Shabbat and was horrified by what he saw: “Torah scrolls thrown on the floor, and the entire floor covered with pages from all the holy books. It looks like they invested hours of work tearing prayer books, chumashim, and Torah scrolls. They didn’t steal anything - they only destroyed the sacred texts.”
Rabbi Ratzabi noted that no signs of forced entry were found and explained that the synagogue is located inside a shelter that can be opened remotely. “Apparently that’s what happened. There are several council employees authorized to open the shelters remotely,” he said. According to him, police and forensic teams arrived on Saturday night, and there is hope that nearby security cameras will assist in the investigation.
“We’ve been in this location for 7-8 years and have never experienced harassment or anything like this,” the rabbi added. “This is not regular vandalism - this is someone who acted out of hatred. They really put in effort to find every book in the synagogue and tear it. Literally tear it page by page.”
Police stated that an accelerated investigation has been opened and that all investigative directions are being examined. The police announcement read: “This is a serious incident, and therefore all necessary technological resources are being deployed to expose the perpetrators and bring them to justice.”