Ermelo cemetery restored – September 2011

 


 

Earlier this year, nearly half the graves in the Ermelo Jewish cemetery were vandalized in what is believed to have been an anti-Semitically motivated attack. 35 of the 85 tombstones were targeted, whereas no similar damage was reported in the adjoining general cemetery. The SAJBD's Country Communities Department's response has been to lay all of the cemetery's 85 tombstones flat in a bed of concrete as a way of protecting them from future such incidents. This approach has already been adopted in a number of other rural Jewish cemeteries around the country.

 

What was intended as being a routine visit to check on the status of the restored cemetery by Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft, Spiritual Leader to the SA Country Communities, ended up as something much more meaningful when he was joined for the occasion by members of the families of a number of those buried there. The latter learned of the intended visit through Rabbi Silberhaft's "Where is the Travelling Rabbi?" Thursday slot on Chai FM and independently decided to accompany him. They included members of the Cohen, Bloch, Isakow, Shein, Lipschitz and Schwartz families. Also present were representatives of the local media.

 

In an informal address to the party, Rabbi Silberhaft commended them on the effort they had made to show respect to their departed relatives, and to those of the old Ermelo Jewish community as a whole. Sadly, he said, the great majority of Jewish cemeteries around the country under the maintenance of his department were today almost never visited. He was therefore gratified to see how family members of those laid to rest had made the long journey to Ermelo to visit the refurbished cemetery, and to pay their respects to all the Jews of the town who had lived there and made such a positive contribution to its development.