Sign up for Weekday J and get the latest on what's happening in the Jewish Bay Area.

Some of his older congregants are particularly troubled, he said, because they are survivors of Kristallnacht and "the intrusion into our synagogue and the desecration of our sanctuary in such a way is reminiscent of that time."

One congregant has offered a $10,000 reward. The Jewish Community Relations Council of New York has offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the thieves.