Restoration of Romanian Jewish Cemeteries Studied In Kiryas Joel

Officials of the Heritage Foundation for Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries based in Brooklyn and Budapest, invited Romanian Member of Parliament Nati Meir to the United States to see what modern day Jewish cemeteries look like. And his mission took him to the Village of Kiryas Joel in Orange County.

Kalman Leiberman of the Foundation, who accompanied Meir, said his group is working on many of Eastern Europe's cemeteries. “It’s vital to help and preserve the Jewish cemeteries that were neglected over the 70 years since the war,” he said. They are doing work in Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Western Ukraine, Serbia and now we are starting to do work in Poland.”

While in Kiryas Joel. Meir paid his respects at the tomb of the late Grand Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum, who was one of the leading rebbes in pre-war Romania and served as chief rabbi of Satu-Mare, Rumania prior to the Holocaust.