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A restoration
plan for Hebrew Mutual Cemetery has been designed by the volunteer
group Community Design Collaborative. The plans include repairing
and resetting the headstones, grading and leveling, designing a
Dutch garden landscape, and building new security walls. Motion-activated
lights would help ward off potential vandals. Regular cleaning,
ongoing maintenance, and weed-killing are also necessary.
Communal leaders
first considered disinterring the remains and reburying them in
a mass grave at an active Jewish cemetery. A group of hands-on volunteers
opposed this move. Rabbis from the four branches of Judaism were
consulted, and advised that such a remedy would be contrary to Jewish
law. Learn
more about Jewish law on exhumation and re-burial, and its consideration
for Hebrew Mutual Cemetery.
It is estimated
that the total project will cost between $200,000 - $500,000, and
an additional $200,000 for the perpetual care fund. To make an online
donation to contribute to the cemetery restoration project, please
click
here. You will be taken to the Network for Good Web site,
where you can designate your contribution on the donations page.
Once this project
is complete, the Association plans to take on the work of rescuing
other area Jewish burial grounds in need of restoration, including
sites in Gladwyne and in the lower Northeast.
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