Rochester, NY - Jewish Books, Objects Buried With Reverence

Rochester, NY - Rabbi Shaya Kilimnick stood with his back to the grave, he asked those gathered around him to think about the significance of what lay before them.
Rather than a casket of a loved one, they looked upon cardboard boxes containing more than 4 tons of religious books and objects, from tattered Bibles and Torahs to frayed prayer shawls and worn-out tefillin.

The Rochester Board of Rabbis conducted the burial in the Jewish cemetery on Britton Road on the Greece-Rochester line in accordance with Jewish law on the disposal of such objects. "Keep in mind the many people who turned the pages of these books," Kilimnick told about 30 onlookers, including a handful of fellow rabbis. The materials "were dear to so many, to thousands of Jewish people in our community, to Jewish people who survived the Holocaust," to those who traveled from overseas, he said. "They nourished the souls of countless Jewish people."


The organizations came up with 270 boxes of religious writings and objects, filling a trench about 10 feet across and 15 feet long.
Synagogues collect prayer books and other written materials as they wear out or are replaced by newer editions and translations. In some cases, an elderly Jewish person's religious books are handed over when that person dies and there is no family to take them. Congregation members are invited to share the materials, but some go unclaimed.

"After awhile, it just accumulates," Kilimnick said