Jewish community leaders in the US publicly rallied prayers and awareness efforts for Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Savannah Guthrie, after authorities said she was abducted from her home in Arizona, a case that has drawn national attention and federal involvement.
In a video message circulated by Palm Beach Synagogue, the synagogue’s founding rabbi, Rabbi Moshe E. Scheiner, urged listeners to respond with prayer and communal responsibility, linking the moral gravity of kidnapping to Jewish tradition and to the modern Jewish experience of hostage-taking. He told congregants that Jewish communities “could empathize with the pain” of a family pleading for a loved one’s safe return, and he encouraged the recitation of Tehillim (Psalms) as a communal act of solidarity.
The rabbi’s message also leaned on a classic Jewish legal reading of the Ten Commandments that treats kidnapping as the core meaning of “You shall not steal” in that context. That theme circulated beyond Florida through social media posts and online Torah commentary, where rabbis framed the case as a clear example of the Torah’s view that abducting a person is among the gravest forms of wrongdoing.
Guthrie disappeared on February 1, hours after relatives dropped her off at her home. They reported her missing the following day when she failed to show up for Sunday church services. Law enforcement officials have said they had no suspects or persons of interest in the case.
"Law enforcement has uncovered these previously inaccessible new images showing an armed individual appearing to have tampered with the camera at Nancy Guthrie's front door the morning of her disappearance," FBI Director Kash Patel wrote in an X post accompanying the images.
At least two ransom notes were initially delivered to news sites and media outlets.
Savannah Guthrie and her siblings have made several videos pleading for the public to help with tips and for the kidnappers to return their mother or communicate with them directly. The family has said that they would pay a ransom.
Eighth Commandment’s theft prohibition refers speciafically to kidnapping, Rabbi says
One widely shared example came from Rabbi Eli L. Garfinkel, who wrote on his Gimme Some Torah newsletter that traditional Jewish interpretation reads the Eighth Commandment’s theft prohibition as referring specifically to kidnapping, rather than property crimes, and he cited classical sources to explain why that commandment was historically treated as a capital-level offense in Jewish law. He concluded with a public prayer that Guthrie would return safely.
Other Jewish voices amplified the call in more personal terms. Lori Palatnik, founder of Momentum, posted a short prayer appeal on social media, asking followers to continue praying for Guthrie and her family.
The case also touched a Jewish family connection inside the Guthrie household. Savannah Guthrie is married to Michael Feldman, who has been described in multiple profiles as Jewish, with the couple raising their children in an interfaith home that honors both Jewish and Christian traditions. Feldman also circulated an Instagram appeal urging the public to help identify a masked person shown in images connected to the investigation, asking anyone who recognized the figure to contact authorities.
Law enforcement has released surveillance images and related materials as part of the ongoing investigation, and family members have appealed publicly for proof of life and the safe return of Guthrie, noting her age and health needs.