Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Ground Zero Rabbi’s Toxic Shirt Swiped by ‘World’s Stupidest Criminal’

The toxin-laden shirt worn by a rabbi who was volunteering at Ground Zero following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center was stolen in Miami.

The shirt, which Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun had saved and stored in a metal box, was stolen from the rabbi’s car last week, the New York Daily News reported.

Packed in a postal service box, the shirt was sitting in Kaploun’s parked car outside his house because he was planning to mail it to a Daily News columnist who wanted to use it to urge Congress to renew the Zadroga Act. The act, which guarantees medical care and compensation for first responders in the terror attack, was renewed on Dec. 18.

“Some thief thought they were going to get a Christmas present, but they are actually putting themselves in danger,” Kaploun, 47, told The Daily News.

The rabbi lived in New York in 2001, but has since relocated to Florida.

The shirt is contaminated with asbestos, lead, zinc and other toxins, Kaploun said.

Kaploun called the thief the “world’s stupidest criminal for putting his life in danger.”

According to JPUpdates, Kaploun volunteered at Ground Zero under the auspices of the Jewish rescue group Hatzolah.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.