A party of Hasidic Jews some 20 strong from New York City spent Monday and Tuesday sorting through 300 tons of trash at the High Acres Landfill in Perinton.
They were looking for a couple of tefallin, small leather boxes with copies of scripture inside, given to Jewish boys at their Bar Mitzvah. They’re a religious artifact the owner is supposed to keep for life, but these vanished while the congregation was leaving their New York City synagogue. Someone checked the surveillance cameras and saw the plastic bag containing them had accidentally fallen into a trash bin.
They got on the phone to Waste Management, which was able to figure the synagogue’s trash had been loaded into one of 32 containers and put on a train for their High Acres landfill. The congregation got permission, raised $25,000 and sent a busload of volunteers to Rochester, complete with Tyvek suits and face masks.
They went home last night after sorting through 14 container loads without any luck. But they plan to regroup and come back to finish the job.