A Mistaken Thief And A Forgotten Bike

By Idy Perl

Today in Monsey a bike was returned to its rightful owner a year after the owner had forgotten where he left it. 

Frequent mispallelim of Toshnad shul on Howard Drive might have noticed a bike chained to the gate of the property, gathering dust and turning rusty over the span of the last year. 

This morning Rockland Chavivim got a call from a concerned resident who saw someone break the chain of the bike. Assuming that the person was about to steal it, Chavivim members quickly came to the scene to try and catch the perp red-handed. They retreived footage of the building and saw the person moving the bike to the side of the building. When they went to check it out they saw the bike had a name and contact information and reached out to the owner. 

The woman who answered the phone said that her son had parked his bike around a year ago but had forgotten where he left it, and was happy to hear that it had been found. Further investigation revealed that the person who had been seen cutting the chain and moving the bike was part of the shul's staff, and had been following orders from the shamash, who asked him to move the bike as it had been in front of the shul for such a long time without anyone claiming it. 

The would-be thief got his name cleared and the forgetful owner got his bike back.