World Society Vice-President Alon Goldman Co-ordinates Major Cemetery Clean-Up
After many years of neglect, a major step has been taken to clean-ep Częstochowa’s Jewish Cemetery. It was a complex task, laden with serious concerns but, in the end, it was made possible thanks to the determination, perseverance, a great deal of goodwill and the great help of the good people who volunteered for the task.
Due to the size of the cemetery (the third largest Jewish cemetery in Poland), it became clear that it would not be possible to deal with the entire area at one time, so that two plots were chosen to begin the work – one, to the left of the main path, on either side of the mass graves, the other, at the top and on the right sidee of the cemetery, past the mass grave of the ŻOB fighters. As with the rest of the cemetery, these two areas were overtaken by dense ground vegetation and a large number of trees which, over the years, had fallen due to the weather.
Cutting the trees would not have been possible without the help of skilled professionals. With great effort, dozens of fallen tree trunks were cut into pieces small enough to be moved, by volunteers, to the main path from where they could be removed from the cemetery. The logs and vegetation cleared off graves were shredded into wood chips, which we then scattered on the ground throughout the cleared area in order to delay the re-growth of wild vegetation.
This work could not have happened without the good people who enlisted for this mission. World Society Vice-President, Alon Goldman, expressed his thanks Pastor Steven D. Reece, Director of the American Matzevah Foundation, and to Prszemek Panasiuk, Director of its activities in Poland. He also thanks the excellent professionals who joined this mission, who arrived well-equipped and who were knowledgeable and skillful.
Volunteers from the Fundacja Chrześcijańska Adullam (pics above) also joined in the work. This is an association of hardworking people living in, what was, the Jewish Ghetto area of Częstochowa, Under the leadership of Robert Kamela, they dragged and removed heavy trunks, cleared branches, trimmed vegetation, operated scythes, and did whatever was asked of them. We thank them so much and also thank Mrs. Elżbieta Ferenc, Director of the Fundacja, for your friendship and cooperation.
Over 200 volunteers – Częstochowa residents, graduates and students of elementary and high schools – came to work in the cemetery. Special thanks go to the dozens of Częstochowa students from the Słowackie, Biegański, Kopernicus, Gastronomic and Technicom high schools, as well as to students of the Kamieńskie Młynyl elementary school, all of whom arrived each morning, motivated to learn and to help. Alon Goldman praised them all for their involvement and goodwill.
The World Society Vice-President also thanked Częstochowa Mayor, Krzysztof Matyjaszczyk, and the few, but generous,Landsleit in Israel and all over the world, without whose support and generous contributions it would not be possible to bring this week of work to completion.
Source: Alon Goldman