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Toronto police are investigating after Jewish prayer scrolls were removed from three condos in North York on Thursday.
The scrolls, called mezuzahs, contain religious texts and are often placed on the doorposts of homes as a symbol of the Jewish faith.
Just before 12:30 p.m. on Christmas day, three mezuzahs were taken from three units near Finch Avenue E. and Bayview Avenue, according to a statement from Ashley Visser, spokesperson for Toronto Police Service (TPS).
“Officers are investigating and the hate crime unit has been notified,” Visser said in the statement.
Nate Leipciger, a holocaust survivor who lives in the building targeted on Thursday, heard about the incident while away from the city in Florida. He said he was upset to hear his neighbours’ mezuzahs had been taken.
“[Mezuzahs are] an indication that we are a Jewish home and that we are not afraid to display the fact that we are Jewish on our doorpost,” said Leipciger.
He said the incident makes him feel less safe to return to his home. He told CBC Toronto he would like to see security cameras installed in the hallways and more security measures.
“I know that all of the residents in the building feel equally threatened and equally afraid,” he said. “Our security has been punctured.”
This is the first time TPS has responded to this kind of incident at this location, Visser said.
But earlier this month, about 20 mezuzahs were reported stolen from a Toronto Seniors Housing Corporation building near Bathurst Street and Steeles Avenue W.
Leipciger said he thinks these incidents will keep happening unless investigators find who is responsible.
“We cannot sit idly by and say ‘Oh, it’s going to go away.’ We have to be proactive,” he said,
James Pasternak, councillor for York Centre, condemned the thefts in a social media post following the news of the stolen scrolls on Thursday.
“This case of mezuzahs being vandalized is another example of the hate that has infected our city,” he said in the post.
Pasternak told CBC Toronto he was “shocked and disgusted” by the incident and said he hopes investigators find the perpetrator.
“People come to Toronto from all over the world fleeing hate,” he said in an interview Friday. Many come to the city because of the ability to practice religions and cultures safely, he said.
“What [we’re] seeing with these targeted hate crimes is the societal breakdown where the ability to to live openly in your faith is being shattered,” Pasternak said in the interview.
