Miami

North Miami Beach Rabbi's Home Burglarized as Wife, Children Slept: Police

A North Miami Beach Rabbi got a rude awakening when he woke up early Wednesday to discover a burglar inside his home.

Rabbi Eily Smith tells NBC 6 South Florida that his wife and children, ranging in age from 1 to 13, were asleep inside their 17630 South Glades Drive home when he woke up early as he normally does. He woke up to find the very quiet robber still inside his home.

"My reaction was, he must need something like food," Smith said. "My wife is very good, and she would have fed him something. But then I realized he was a robber and I screamed."

Smith says the burglar turned around to leave the house "calmly" but "quickly." Smith was then surprised to hear the sound of his own car backing out of the driveway, so he called police.

The burglar took off in Smith's car, then ditched that car in a driveway near 176th Terrace and Northeast 10th Avenue.

That driveway, ironically, belonged to Smith's friend and neighbor, Yaniv Nakash.

Nakash says the neighborhood is often the target of robberies.

"We keep getting jumped," Nakash says. "People just get off I-95, they make a right or a left, rob us and keep on going.

Nakash described the family as "beautiful," stating that the parents are both Rabbinical teachers, and very well known both in Miami and New York, making the robbery especially unsettling.

Smith says he was startled, but thankful his family is safe. The burglars made off with a few household items.

Anyone with information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.

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