Woman arrested on suspicion of stealing, attempting to light Torah, religious texts on fire

OCTOBER 11, 2026 14:18Israel Police on Sunday arrested a woman on suspicion of stealing several religious books from the tomb of Rabbi Avdimi of Haifa and attempting to set them on fire. The suspect was taken into custody and transferred to the Haifa police station for questioning.The investigation is ongoing, police said.Firefighter holding a burnt Torah scroll saved from a fire in the Mea Shearim neighborhood, September 23, 2026. (credit: Hershy Perlmutter, ISRAEL FIRE AND RESCUE AUTHORITY)Torah scrolls rescued from Mea She'arim fireSeparately, in September, firefighters rescued several Torah scrolls from a residential building fire in the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Mea She'arim neighborhood in Jerusalem."Firefighters acted decisively to tackle the intense fire in the temporary structure and conducted rapid searches that ruled out the presence of trapped people," said Incident Commander Deputy Chief Shai Nehemia at the time. "During the operation, crews rescued several Torah scrolls from the flames."Follow us on Google