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Vandals Break into Yeshiva, Desecrate Torah; Police Hunt ‘crazy Kids’

November 7, 1963
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Police began a hunt today for three to four youngsters believed to have been responsible for a vandal attack on the Yeshivas Ch’San Sofer, a school in Brooklyn operated by ultra-Orthodox Jews.

Caretaker Luis Corchano said that he found the words “Heil Hitler” written on a closet door, and the school’s Torah scroll on the floor, its velvet cover soaked with peroxide and footprints visible on it. The back of the scroll was marred by two swastikas scratched in with a ballpoint pen. The vandals also stole $100 from the school office, and damaged religious books used by the 100 pupils of the yeshiva.

Police said the break-in took place last night and guessed that there were three or four youngsters involved. They could find no reason for the vandalism but suggested that the protest demonstration by ultra-Orthodox Jews from Brooklyn at the Israel Consulate in Manhattan Monday, which included swastika inscriptions on the Consulate building, might have “inspired some crazy kids.”

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