EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP – It took about three hours of solid work for 35 concerned area citizens to clean up Beth Israel Cemetery across from the Walmart store on Sunday – the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass, which gave their work deeper meaning.
The volunteers, who worked in two shifts, collected and hauled away nearly a ton of debris and trash, although there’s more work to be done, organizer Josh Cutler, executive director of the Board of Jewish Education of Atlantic and Cape May Counties, said.
The cleanup was organized after Cutler noticed that unhoused people took over a section of the cemetery, broke into a mausoleum and overturned gravestones. The area has since been vacated but was littered with broken glass, trash and mattresses.
The cleanup will become part of a larger initiative to encourage citizens to clean up Jewish cemeteries as a mitzvah to honor the dead. Many of the gravestones in local Jewish cemeteries bear the names of Holocaust survivors. Educational walking tours are part of the effort that will be led by the Board of Jewish Education in the spring of 2026.
“There’s a special kind of peace in doing something simple, real and meaningful,” said Rabbi Mendi Wanono of the Chabad Chai Center. “Just showing up honors those who came before us.”
Holocaust survivor Mike Kleidermacher, 83, said he gathered up four large bags of debris, but was saddened to see that so many Holocaust survivors buried there have had their gravestones in disrepair for so long.
“The group doing this provided a great service and of course mitzvah,” he said. “Many who passed were less than 80 years old, and here I am at 83, glad to be alive and yet wondering when my time is up. But overall, the experience of doing this felt very good and if I am lucky in the future I would do it again.”
BJE board member Felicia Niven said it was powerful to see so many people from all backgrounds come together and work side by side in the rain to honor the dead.
“As a member of the Board of Jewish Education and a congregant at Beth Israel, I was deeply moved to be part of this meaningful effort. It truly felt like a day of connection, giving back and learning. Josh’s tour of the gravesites made the history so vivid and meaningful.”
Cutler said the day was more than just a volunteer initiative.
“It was a moment of connection to the generations who built our local Jewish community,” he said. “Standing among their stories, doing something real and tangible, reminded me how powerful it is to show up, care and keep their memory alive.”
The mitzvah is rooted in Kavod HaMet, the Jewish value of honoring those who have passed on.
“As we cleaned the cemetery, we weren’t just tending to the grounds. We were restoring dignity to the dead, reconnecting with our history and acknowledging the sacred responsibility we carry to those who helped shape the life we inherit today,” he said. “Standing among the graves of Holocaust survivors and their families, doing this restorative work, became a quiet act of remembrance – a way of saying their stories will not be forgotten.”
Future cleanups at Jewish cemeteries will be announced in the future, Cutler said.
Copyright Fideri News Network 2025
