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“The way we respect our dead
reflects our own values,” said
Addie Lewis Klein, the Jewish
Federation’s senior director of
leadership development and
community engagement. “And
it’s important for the Jewish
Federation to help convene and
connect the people who can
care about our history.”
The community’s response
to the cleanup event has been
overwhelming, Blumberg
said. More than 300 people
have signed up to volunteer.

Friends of Jewish Cemeteries
has raised more than $11,000
of the $20,000 goal.

At the cleanup, volunteers
will pick up litter around
the cemetery’s fence line;
rake twigs, branches, leaves
and other debris; and clip
overgrown vines. Volunteers
may also clean off the plaques
that delineate the cemetery’s
plots, allowing visitors to find
the graves of loved ones.

Though volunteer help is
needed to tidy the cemetery’s
16-acre grounds, much of
the restoration work must be
completed by professionals.

Many gravestones weigh
500-1,000 pounds, some
up to 2,000 pounds. Lifting
gravestones and leveling the
ground underneath them have
to be done by a professional.

Masons must clean and repair
the gravestones to avoid altering
the text written on them.

With the money raised for
the pilot project, Blumberg
hopes to hire area conservator
Joe Ferrannini to consult with
him on how to best restore the
pilot project’s allotted space at
the beginning of November.

The pilot project will focus
on a plot with graves from
1918-1936. The area has some
graves that are toppled, leaning
and split in multiple places,
providing the opportunity to
address multiple problems in a
contained area. The spot is also
accessible by truck.

“It gives us a really good
cross section,” Blumberg said.

Har Nebo’s maintenance has
declined likely due to its small
perpetual care endowment that
provides funds to keep plots tidy,
according to Dennis Montagna,
the program lead of Monument
Research & Preservation for the
National Parks Service.

Har Nebo was established
in 1890, but fewer people are
being buried there, which
means less revenue is incoming
to maintain the area. Rabbi
Eliott Perlstein of Ohev Shalom
of Bucks County, who will
Plaques to be cleaned as part of
Friends of Jewish Cemeteries’ pilot
restoration project.

Courtesy of Richard Blumberg
conduct a memorial service
at the cleanup, has noticed a
decrease in traffic there.

“I’ve been a rabbi here for a
number of years, and I’ve only
had about three or four funerals
in that cemetery,” he said.

“There’s still space for burial, but
it’s not a cemetery that people
are going to these days.”
Har Nebo owner Rich Levy
said 44 people were buried
there last year.

According to Perlstein,
fewer people are aware of Har
Nebo than before. There are
other cemeteries in the area,
including ones as old as and
larger than Har Nebo.

Though poor maintenance
is a manmade reason for a lack
of cemetery upkeep, much of a
cemetery’s maintenance is out of
humans’ control, Montagna said.

Cemetery aging is inevitable,
but environmental factors, such
as rainfall, can shift the ground
When Richard Blumberg visited Har Nebo Cemetery, he saw 2,000 of
the cemetery’s 35,000 gravestones in disrepair.

beneath the gravestones, as can
the breaking down of caskets,
he said. This is particularly an
issue for Jewish cemeteries,
where caskets are not ornate
and quickly degrade.

If cemeteries are overgrown,
they can become habitats for
small animals, which can pose
a danger for both the animals
and visitors, Montagna said.

“Sometimes you have
animals burrowing,” he said.

“If the grass is overgrown, you
don’t always see where those
holes are, so the chance of
stepping in one is pretty high.”
Montagna said that Har Nebo
is particularly worse for wear:
“It’s like the worst-case scenario.”
However, Montagna believes
that there’s a renewed interest in
cemeteries, thanks to Ancestry.

com and similar sites that have
made genealogy more accessible.

Blumberg hopes to incorporate
genealogy projects into Har
Nebo cleanup efforts once more
gravestones have been cleaned.

Har Nebo isn’t the only
struggling Jewish cemetery.

Har Jehuda Cemetery in
Upper Darby has struggled
with upkeep. In 2017, vandals
desecrated 275 gravestones
at Mount Carmel Cemetery
in Philadelphia, which is also
owned by Levy. The Jewish
Federation raised $288,000 for
cleanup. Though cemetery cleanup
efforts are seldom proactive,
Perlstein believes it’s really the
only way to help.

“Other than an event like
this, where people are invited to
purposely go to that cemetery, I
don’t think there really is a more
natural way,” Perlstein said.

Though Blumberg’s pilot
project will only tackle a small
portion of the cemetery, he
hopes it’s just the beginning.

“My dream would be to start a
movement where we, as a Jewish
community, include cemeteries
in our daily lives,” Blumberg said.

“And we start to put our atten-
tion, our awareness and resources
towards fixing them.” l
srogelberg@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0741
16 OCTOBER 14, 2021
JEWISH EXPONENT
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM