Harvard Police Investigating Missing Mezuzah Incident as ‘Bias Crime’

The Harvard University Police Department is investigating a “bias crime” after a Jewish freshman’s mezuzah briefly went missing from her doorway in Thayer Hall last month, according to HUPD spokesperson Steven G. Catalano.

Catalano wrote in a Tuesday evening statement to The Crimson that the incident is “being carried as a bias crime” because “it is a bias-related theft.”

The mezuzah — a scroll of parchment containing Torah verses typically placed outside Jewish residences — belonged to Sarah F. Silverman ’28, who claimed it was deliberately removed from her door on the morning of Sept. 3.

Catalano wrote in a statement to The Crimson after the incident that a HUPD officer recovered the mezuzah roughly three doors down from Silverman’s room and returned it to her.

After the mezuzah was reported missing, Harvard Chabad Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi slammed the incident as a “hate crime” that targeted a Jewish student because of her religious identity.

The incident comes following a series of antisemitic and anti-Palestinian posters and poster vandalism on campus last semester, as well as antisemitic comments posted on Sidechat, an anonymous social media app.

In the past several months, Harvard administrators have also initiated efforts to address forms of bias on campus, after affiliates criticized the University for its handling of antisemitism and anti-Arab discrimination in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.

Silverman wrote in a statement to The Crimson that she spoke to a police officer on Tuesday morning and was informed that the incident was being investigated as theft. She said it could not be “definitively labeled a hate crime” because the police had still not identified intent.

Silverman added that students interviewed by detectives who lived near where the mezuzah was found, reported that it “wasn’t there all day.”

—Staff writer Michelle N. Amponsah can be reached at michelle.amponsah@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @mnamponsah.

—Staff writer Joyce E. Kim can be reached at joyce.kim@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @joycekim324.