Rabbi in Costume Helps Bust Shul House Rocker

BROOKLYN, NY — Cops nabbed a man they’d wanted for repeatedly breaking into a Brooklyn Heights synagogue over the past few months, finally delivering the congregation from torment by the burglar — and it couldn’t have happened on a more auspicious day.

Rabbi Aaron Raskin, who heads congregation B’nai Avraham, was preparing for Purim, a holiday that celebrates another long-ago deliverance, on March 10, when police told him that they had cornered the suspect as he loitered on Henry Street, between Pierrepont and Clark streets.

Already in costume for his shul’s annual holiday festivities, Raskin hopped into the squad car and positively identified the suspect.

“I was dressed as the ‘Man in the Yellow Hat’ from the Curious George books,” said Raskin, who had met the suspect several years ago when the suspect came to the synagogue looking for charity.

Since then, the man has been suspected of breaking into the synagogue every few weeks and stealing charity donation boxes. The most-recent crime was on March 4, cops said.

Not long after the arrest, Raskin received another call from the cops.

“They said that [the suspect] wanted to talk to me, and that he was telling them he was my friend,” said Raskin. “With friends like that, who needs enemies?”