Beware The Broom Burglar of Nachlaot

There have been a rash of home burglaries over the past couple of months in central Jerusalem - so much so that the police have set up a special task force to investigate what has been happening and hoping to catch a thief or two or a few, if they're lucky.

Jerusalem email listings have nearly daily reports of homes that have been burglarized and shrewd enterpreneurs are popping up in the same email lists - listing their security alarm services.

I'm comfortably ensconced in a suburb of Jerusalem where maybe a burglary happens maybe once a month - not several a day. But when I visited a friend in Jerusalem this afternoon she related to me her experience the night before.

"So I was woken up by this noise at 3:00 in the morning and saw a broom hovering over my bed trying to unplug something. I totally freaked out."

"Oh my God. What did you do?"

"I slammed the window shut and yelled 'what the HELL do you think you're doing?!!' but he had already gotten the broom out."

I tried to think of witty things she could have yelled at him like "I'm not hiring for Passover cleaning until tomorrow morning, jerk!"

I told her - "Jeez, you have absolutely nothing in this place. What could he have wanted?"

I looked in her room and saw a few books and clothing. There was underwear on the top shelf.

"Maybe he was a pervert and wanted to steal your undies."

"I think he just wanted to 'clean' me out with his broom"

We laughed at the spectacle of this broom sneaking in through her window. Like those cartoons I used to see of electrical razors chasing people. Her dog was at a friend's and I thought he would have protected my friend with his barks.

"Nah, he's afraid of brooms. He would have just hidden under my bed"