The Cemetery Association

Mickey Levine, a member of the JHSNJ, has written our February 2018 newsletter.

Before I begin, you should know that one of the first things that a Jewish immigrant did upon arriving in America during earlier waves of immigration was to join a Jewish Burial Society or an association that had a cemetery. In this way if they passed away, they would be assured of being buried on hallowed ground. That phenomenon led to one of the best kept secrets of the Passaic/Bergen area, the Cemetery Association. As of today the Association owns, maintains and operates 15 old Jewish Cemeteries in Passaic & Bergen counties. The history of the organization began in the mid-1970’s when a group of leaders from the North Jersey Federation, along with some other members of the community, got together to figure a way to insure that Jewish Cemeteries would not become an eyesore in the community. They noticed that many of the old Jewish organizations in the area had established cemeteries but those organizations were steadily losing members. They felt there was a need to insure the upkeep and maintenance of those particular cemeteries.

All of the Jewish organizations in the area were invited to join the Association. There were many meetings held to try and convince every organization to join; however, when all was said and done, only seven organizations agreed to join the Cemetery Association. The original cemeteries were the Americus Oddfellows Lodge,  the B’nai Shalom Lodge and Yanover Lodge in Saddle Brook, A.M. White Lodge and Stein –Joelson Lodge in Totowa, the Nathan & Miriam Barnert Organization and the Independent Passaic County Club in West Paterson (now known as Woodland Park). Over the years the Temple Emanuel Cemetery, the Workmen’s Circle # 121 & # 970 Cemeteries, the Ozerkower Benefit Society Cemetery, Congregation B’nai Israel Cemetery in Saddle Brook, Workmen’s Circle # 13 in Elmwood Park, the Independent United Jersey Verein Cemetery in West Paterson (Woodland Park), and the Congregation Ahavath Joseph Cemetery in Hawthorne have become part of the Association. The Association is now in the process of taking over the Yavneh Academy Cemetery in Saddle Brook and the Silk City Lodge Cemetery in West Paterson (Woodland Park). We believe that these two cemeteries will be a part of the Association by June 2018.

At its inception, the Association established a ‘Perpetual Care Fund’ which was funded in part by monies that the organizations held in their treasury prior to them coming into the Association. In addition, money was given by next of kin. As part of our policy we request that the perpetual care fee be paid prior to burial. This fund permits us to provide care to the cemeteries on a continuous basis. In addition to the basic care, the fund has permitted us to raise headstones which have fallen due to age or weather conditions. Moreover, the fund has permitted us to clean up a number of cemeteries that we have taken over so that we could restore them as necessary.  For example, we replaced a wall on Mc Bride Ave in Woodland Park which was deemed to be unsafe by the town’s officials following a hurricane. On a few different occasions, the monies have enabled the Association to raise headstones in our cemeteries that were knocked down due to vandalism; and, in one instance, it enabled us to come to the aid of the community to cover the cost of raising headstones in a cemetery that was not even part of the Association.

As previously mentioned, we are in the process of taking over the Silk City Lodge Cemetery on Mc Bride Avenue in Woodland Park. Their members grew up in Paterson and established the cemetery; however, the organization has not functioned now in more than 15 years. We are now in the process of raising money from the community in order for us to take over that cemetery. There are many toppled stones there as a result of age and falling trees, stumps  located in the middle of graves, overgrown trees and trees along the fence line that continue to come down, as well as badly leaning headstones which could fall at any point. All of these problems need to be dealt with in order to bring the cemetery back to its proper condition. The Federation has made a financial commitment to the Cemetery Association in its fundraising effort for this cemetery but it will cover only a portion of our needs.

While we are concentrating our fundraising efforts on the Silk City Cemetery refurbishment, we are also raising additional money to install footstones on 40 unmarked graves that exist in some of our cemeteries. We also need to remove large dead and dying trees and disintegrating concrete beds so that we can improve the look and safety of our cemeteries.

The question is always asked if these cemeteries are still functioning. The answer is most definitely ‘yes’. During the year, there are burials taking place on most of our cemeteries and we still have graves available for purchase. Since we are non-profit, our fees are quite reasonable.

We are continuing to improve and update our data base. We welcome inquiries from next of kin as to the cemetery and location of their relatives. Any questions can be made either by email to msl11@verizon.net , by phone to 973-784-3294 or 917-699-6057, or by mail to  Cemetery Association, 701 Ford Road, Box# 5, Rockaway, NJ 07866. We are currently building a website with all the information on the Cemetery Association and its cemeteries.

The Association exists because of our belief that we have an obligation to take care of the final resting place of those who came before us. Over the coming years you will see us assuming control of additional cemeteries that were established by Jewish organizations and religious institutions which are no longer in existence. We welcome your participation.

Mickey Levine, Member of the JHSNJ