A Jewish community outside Paris has been left reeling after 12 Torah scrolls—Judaism’s holiest sacred texts—were stolen from the Grand Synagogue of Levallois in what community leaders are calling a deliberate antisemitic attack. The thieves reportedly bypassed security systems and ignored other valuables, taking only the Torah scrolls.

The theft was discovered Monday morning by Rabbi Chalom Lellouche as he prepared for a bar mitzvah. Police have launched an investigation, while local officials said the synagogue had been struck at “what is most sacred and precious” to the Jewish community.

“It was clearly a criminal act, but also an antisemitic one,” synagogue leaders said, calling the theft a “spiritual trauma” not only for French Jews but for Jewish communities around the world.

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