A Jewish holy object that initially was believed to be a Torah scroll was seized from criminals during a police raid of a Rio slum.
Jewish representatives were called Monday to identify the object, which was determined to be a sefer haftarah, or passages from the books of the prophets that are read on Shabbat following the Torah reading. It was found last Friday at a drug dealer’s bunker in the Parada de Lucas shantytown amid a stash of ammunition “that could shoot down a helicopter,” the Extra newspaper reported.
“This is not a Torah,” Rabbi Mendy Aboutboul of the Edmond J. Safra Ipanema Synagogue said. “We have found the signature of a Rabbi David Basri, a great Sephardi spiritual leader of the Sucat David community in Jerusalem. Usually this type of sefer was given as a gift to large community donors.”
The ornately boxed scroll was found among some 1,000 bullets – including 350 powerful .30 caliber ones – in a basement hidden under a secret passageway between two shacks, revealed when some 20 police officers raided the slum in an armored tank.
“Taking into consideration the religious content of the object seized during the raid, it will be sent to specialists for a descriptive criminal investigation with the proper care that a holy book deserves, and then it will be returned to the Jewish community to keep in its custody,” said Rachel Glatt, legal representative of the Rio Jewish federation.
Rio is home to some 30,000 Jews, who experience one of the world’s highest urban violence rates and increased risk from stray bullets from criminals and police.
A segurança de nossos irmãos no Rio de Janeiro fica cada dia mais preocupante. BH recuperaram este rolo de Haftarot, mas sera que conseguiram recuperar também a tranquilidade de se viver em paz ?
It is the minhag in many Sfardi communities that the Haftorah is read from a SCROLL written by a SOFER, albeit with taamei hamikrah (as can partially be seen by the photos in the articles). Certainly it does not hold the same sanctity as a Torah scroll, but the difference was hinted to in the article.
This Scroll of Haftorot is printed on paper with Nekudos and Taamim and is not written on parchment or by a Sofer.
Indeed, a holy object and a bit costly, but not to be confused for a Torah scroll
Yep sefardi jews