Synagogue Desecration in Leeds: Suspicion Rests on Group of Children: Ark Torn Open and Scroll of La

The Leeds police are hopeful of tracing the culprits responsible for an act of vandalism committed in the Leeds Talmud Torah, the “Yorkshire Evening News”, which appears in Leeds, writes reporting that it has now been determined that the offenders, whoever they were, gained entrance to the Talmud Torah through an open window between the hours of 1.30 p.m. and 7 p.m. when the place was locked up.

It was at 7 p.m., when members of the old boys’ classes of the Talmud Torah entered the room, the paper states, that the results of the senseless acts were discovered. Every room in the building had been ransacked and, although nothing had been stolen, the whole place was in chaos.

The worst act of all was the tearing open of the Ark in the synagogue. A Scroll of the Law had also been thrown to the floor, and religious vestments were lying nearby.

In the classrooms obscene writings had been chalked on the blackboards, teachers’ desks had been opened and books and pencils strewn on the floor, and pictures had been torn from their hangings on the walls and despoiled.

Prayer Books had been scattered about the room and soil from plant pots had been thrown over them, while the plants had been uprooted.

Apart from the futility of the crime and the trouble it has caused to the members of the Talmud Torah, the “Yorkshire Evening News” says, the acts, especially the desecration of the synagogue, have shocked the whole Jewish community of Leeds.

It is not believed to have been the work of any person maliciously disposed towards the Talmud Torah, the “Yorkshire Evening News” has been infor, but the act of some irresponsible children.

Suspicion rests on a group of children in the district, it reveals, but as yet no clue has been found which definitely implicates them. Vigorous inquiries are being made, however, in an endeavour to bring to book the culprits as soon as possible.