Police are looking for a suspect who may have committed a string of robberies at synagogues in the Montreal area.
The most recent break-in happened this last week in NDG, where a donation box was torn right off the wall.
Josh Berkowicz, Assistant Rabbi, Chabad NDG said the thief walked up to the front door at midnight on Thursday, and tried unsuccessfully to enter the building.
But he came back later.
"After half an hour he succeeded in entering the building. They were here for five minutes and then they left," said Berkowicz.
The tool marks are still visible where the man used a tool to pry open the wooden door.
Inside the Chabad he made his way quickly to the synagogue and went straight for the collection box.
Nothing else in the Chabad was touched, leading the assistant rabbi to believe the thief knew exactly what he was looking for.
"It could be that somebody had come here over the holidays, noticed it, knew what it was, decided it was an easy way to come in, take it and go," said Berkowicz.
The charity box was installed about a year ago by a member of the community.
"It could have been as much as $500 if not more. The box itself, obviously a unique piece, hard to put a price on it but hundreds of dollars as well," said Berkowicz.
Montreal police are looking into a similar robbery that happened about a week ago in Cote St. Luc.
"There has been a string of very similar kind of thefts and break-ins in various synagogues for the past week," said Berkowicz.
Chabad has been robbed before, and December the menorah outside was vandalized.
After that security was beefed up, and the new cameras provided a clear image which has been given to police.
