A Solen Package, A Contrite Thief, and A Beautiful Kiddush Hashem
by CrownHeights.info
Stolen packages are a teeth-gnashing reality in Crown Heights. After each new story, residents have little to celebrate and usually find themselves becoming increasingly resigned to the futility of even reporting the thefts to the police. This story though is a beautiful exception.
A Crown Heights resident, who prefers to remain anonymous, returned to his home last week anticipating that a package with an expensive electronic would be sitting by his front door. When he found none, he didn’t despair and instead began combing through his home’s surveillance footage in search of some clue.
“I saw that there was a group of kids from a local public school that were passing in front of my house,” the homeowner told CrownHeights.info. “Sure enough, one of them took the package.”
The homeowner reached out to Rabbi Yaacov Behrman, a Chabad activist, to see if the students could be located based on his uniform which was plainly visible on the video. Rabbi Behrman was able to identify the school, and put the school’s principal in touch with the homeowner.
“The school was able to track down the students based on the video,” the homeowner said, “and after that, the student himself showed up at my door.”
Obviously contrite, the student apologized for taking the package, explaining that he and his friends had been playing around and had dropped the package off at a neighboring home, a claim that was later proven to be true.
The story doesn’t end there, with the parents and school both following up on the student’s behavior.
“I received a home visit from the principal of the school and spoke with the student’s mother,” the homeowner said. “Overall a very pleasant experience.”
The homeowner said that he appreciated the professional response of the school and the students parents, and wants to spread the story to show that when you open a line of communication, there is sometimes someone on the other end happy to do the right thing and help.
