Erna Simcha of North Brunswick is comforted by her daughter, Rita, of Milltown as she looks at the restored headstone of her husband, Menachem, who was a Holocaust survivor.
Photos by Debra Rubin
July 8, 2008
Six months after four teens destroyed much of Poile Zedek Cemetery in New Brunswick in a drunken vandalism spree, about 200 community members and relatives gathered to rededicate the site with prayer and speeches.
As people circulated about before the start of the June 29 ceremony at the Joyce Kilmer Avenue cemetery — shared by Orthodox Congregation Poile Zedek in New Brunswick and Sephardi Congregation Etz Ahaim in Highland Park — many had mixed emotions.
Some were moved to tears as they stopped to pray or touch the repaired or replaced tombstones and admire the restoration effort. Others continued to vent anger at the four juveniles responsible for the spree that left more than 500 tombstones toppled or broken.
As she looked at the repaired grave of her father, Victor Benzilio, Debi Verpent of North Brunswick said, “We are very thankful but we were very disappointed in the sentence given the perpetrators.”
The headstones were desecrated on Jan. 1 and 4 by the teens, who were arrested several days later and spent 68 days in the Middlesex County Juvenile Detention Center. They were also sentenced to 100 hours of community service, ordered to pay restitution amounts ranging from $2,500 to $5,000, and placed on probation for 18 months.
Many of the destroyed headstones were buried along the outskirts of the cemetery underneath a monument created with other smashed headstones.
Lee Livingston, president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County, which raised more than $100,000 to help restore the cemetery, said the federation “was proud to play its part.” Initial damage estimates ranged from $500,000 to $1 million.
“We received many donations and not just from those of the Jewish faith,” he said. “From all over the country, people of good will sent donations.”
Livingston also took note of how the Jewish communitypulled together to come to the aid of the cemetery.
Daniel Bendavid of Delray Beach, Fla., left, stops at the grave of his mother, Rachel, which was toppled during a January vandalism spree at Poile Zedek Cemetery. With him and his wife, Jane, are their grandchildren, from left, Emily Bendavid of Bridgewater, Carlie Bendavid of Bridgewater, Sarah Piersanti of Hillsborough, and Jared Bendavid of Bridgewater.
‘No greater kindness’
Rabbi David Bassous of Etz Ahaim recalled offering solace and comfort over the last several months to family members devastated by the vandalism. He spoke of those buried in the Etz Ahaim section, many of whom came from Salonika, Greece, early in the last century and worked hard to make lives for their families during the Depression. Most left family behind in Greece, the majority of whom later perished in the Holocaust.
The vandalism also brought out the “best and worst in humanity,” said Bassous, who cited the biblical assertion “that there was no greater kindness than to bury the deceased because it is a kindness that can never be repaid.”
Rabbi Abraham Mykoff of Congregation Poile Zedek congratulates Jewish Educational Center students Moshe Heideman, left, and Akiva Neuman, both of Highland Park, for helping to raise about $12,000 for restoration of the vandalized Poile Zedek Cemetery. The cemetery was rededicated June 29.
“The Torah is to live by and not to die by,” said Mykoff, offering thanks that it was only stone that could be replaced rather than human life that was destroyed.
The service concluded with the chanting of El Maleh Rahamim and prayers for the Six Million killed in the Holocaust by Cantor Moti Schwartz of Edison, recitation of the 23rd Psalm by Bassous, and the recitation of Kaddish.
As he left with his wife and grandchildren, Daniel Bendavid of Delray Beach, Fla., paused at the grave of his mother, Rachel. Bendavid, who had come to New Jersey to attend the rededication, said his entire family was buried at Poile Zedek, their headstones toppled although not broken.
Bendavid said he had “great memories” of those in the cemetery and added, “I’m glad they got this all back together.”
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