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The Talmud says, "Kol Yisrael
arevin zeh la'zeh - All Jews are responsible for each other."
Jewish tradition acknowledges that there is no utilitarian reward
for caring for the dead, and therefore it is a mitzvah of the highest
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Photo
by Elizheva R. Hurvich |
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The B'nai Israel/Hebrew
Mutual Burial Ground. |
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The Hebrew
Mutual Burial Association, formerly called the B'nai Israel Cemetery,
is a Jewish cemetery in South West Philadelphia that had been neglected
for over 30 years. It was on the City of Philadelphia's list of
abandoned properties.
In the
mid-1990s, the cemetery came to the attention of the Jewish community.
The Synagogue-Federation Council, an organization dedicated to improving
and maintaining relationships between the synagogues and Jewish
movements in the greater Philadelphia area, and the Jewish Federation
of Greater Philadelphia, organized volunteer efforts to clean up
the site. These efforts did not made significant progress toward
rehabilitating the site and reestablishing its honor. Renovating
and maintaining a cemetery for the long term is a complicated and
costly task not well suited to the work of volunteers. Various members
of the community including rabbis, as well as Synagogue-Federation
Council members, envisioned the creation of an organization to protect
abandoned Jewish cemeteries from vandalism and deterioration.
With the
Synagogue-Federation Council's encouragement, the Association
for Preservation of Abandoned Jewish Cemeteries was formed in
May 1999 as an independent non-profit, tax exempt corporation. In
December 1999, the Association petitioned the Orphan's Court of
Philadelphia for the title to Hebrew Mutual Cemetery. On December
27, 1999, the Orphan's Court granted the petition and transferred
the title to the Association.
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| Photo
by Elizheva R. Hurvich |
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Volunteer
leadership of the Association continues to organize clean-up efforts.
In addition, the Association has engaged in fund raising and community
awareness campaigns to help educate the community about the problem.
The Association, with the help of other agencies and support from
the citizens of Philadelphia, intends to completely restore the
Hebrew Mutual Cemetery, as well as gain historical status from the
City of Philadelphia. After this project, the Association will consider
a proposal to work on two other cemeteries.
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Board
Members
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Mr. Stanley N. Barer,
President- Richard E. Yaskin, Esq.,
Secretary
- Private Law Practice
- JRF Regional VP/Tikkun Olam Chair
- Mr. Samuel Domsky
- Director of Haym Solomon Memorial Park
- Rabbi Shai J. Gluskin
- Jewish Reconstuctionist Federation (JRF), Education Director
- Mr. Josh Gordon
- Rabbi Sanford H. Hahn
- Temple Beth Shalom, Brigantine, NJ
- Rabbi Robert Layman
- Retired - Director, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism:
Delaware Valley Region
- Mr. John
A. Miller Wilson, IV
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Mr. David Gordon, Treasurer- Director of Roosevelt Memorial Park
- Rabbi Albert Gabbai
- Congregation Mikveh Israel
- Mr. Bennett Goldstein
- Goldstein's Rosenberg's Raphael-Sacks, Inc.
- Rabbi David
L. Gutterman
- Executive Director Board of Rabbis
- Mr. Robert Horen
- Retired - Director, Golden Slipper Club
- Mr. Joseph H. Levine
- Joseph Levine and Sons, Inc.
- Mr. Fred Strober, Esq.
- Saul, Ewing, Remick & Saul, LLP
- Mr. Jacob Weinberger
- P.R. Chair, Center for Jewish Identity, B'nai-B'rith Liberty
Region
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