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Rising for the Torah, the congregation of the Jewish Center of Kew Garden Hills ceased their singing and gasped, when the opened ark revealed that all eight were missing.

“It was a disaster,” said Herman Saltzman, chairman of pews and memorials. “After a few minutes the house chairman realized that there was nothing there and he called the police.”

Police officers from the 107th precinct arrived at around 10 a.m. surveying the area, collecting finger prints and taking pictures. The service resumed when Saltzman retrieved another Torah from the small chapel. There were 10 Torahs in total at the center, eight of which were kept in the ark located in the sanctuary, a room used only on Saturdays and holidays. The remaining two Torahs are kept in the small chapel.

Saltzman said the doors to the sanctuary remain locked during the week and the ark, which has an alarm, requires a key. He thinks only three people have keys to the ark, the rabbi, the ritual chairman and whoever is managing the office at the time. Inside the ark are two iron gates with two padlocks, which the police took. During the service the ritual chairman takes the padlocks off, opens the gates, and velvet curtains remain closed until five minutes before 10 a.m., when someone has the honor of opening the curtain. The Torahs are in two rows of notches, with chains around them to keep them from falling over, but they were broken.

“We have Holocaust survivors in the congregation. It was very traumatic,” Saltzman said.

On the Torahs are velvet embroidered mantels with crowns and the name of the people who donated them. The Torahs are usually made by donations to memorialize someone’s life or a happy occasion. There are metal breast plates made of silver on top of the Torah, which is wound on finials also made of silver. The Torah is written by trained calligraphers and individually take about a year to complete. The scrolls sell for about $60,000 a piece. The Torahs have codes in parts of the scroll and are registered with an international organization.

“They [the police] said it had to be an inside job. Somebody who had the keys or who had access to the keys, because although it is routine for the ritual chairman to unlock the alarm and take off the locks, he doesn’t recall if he opened the alarm or not,” Saltzman said.

An officer from the 107th precinct who is on the investigating team couldn’t comment, but said the case is still under investigation.

Saltzman said the center doesn’t want to prosecute; they just want the Torahs returned.

“Knowing that it is an inside job, we’re devastated,” he said. “The money is not the important thing; it is the fact that to us, it’s the Bible.”