Lakewood, NJ – ‘Shaimos’ Burial Stirs Controversy

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    Shaimos pick up in Lakewood. Photo: Thelakewoodscoop.comLakewood, NJ – The sight at the end of a loose-dirt path off Vermont Avenue has done little but alarm some who have come across it. There, in the trees, a large hole has been dug from which thousands of black trash bags overflow.

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    “I was like, this can’t be legal,” said Scott Wegeman, whose backyard on Albert Avenue is directly behind the burial site. “You can’t just treat your property like a landfill.”

    While perhaps temporarily unsightly (the hole was to be covered by the end of the week), the decades-old tradition is religiously unavoidable, Orthodox leaders contend. That is because the bags’ contents are what strictly observant Jews in Lakewood cannot burn or toss into trash cans: Hebrew text, Torah scripture, sacred garb — no longer usable but still holy.

    So it is buried, most every year, in backyards, with coffins, under foundations and in open lots — anywhere a patch of earth can be found. The practice usually coincides with Passover, since that is when Orthodox families do their spring cleaning.

    This year, in an attempt to organize and facilitate the custom, a local rabbi secured a 100-by-150-foot piece of undeveloped land donated by an individual and had it deed-restricted so nothing can be built there. This week, he dispatched youth under his supervision to collect the items from Orthodox households, bring them to the site in rented trucks and place them into the 40-by-60-foot pit.

    “It doesn’t hurt anyone and it’s a holy thing,” said the rabbi, Chaim Abadi, who got a site plan approved by the township zoning office.

    But for those people unfamiliar with the tradition, such a scene might scream unlawful dumping. Complaints were made with police, the Ocean County health department and the state Department of Environmental Protection. Even some officials, such as Committeeman Raymond Coles, were unaware of the practice.

    On Thursday, Police Chief Robert Lawson sent an e-mail to township officials explaining it to them.

    “Based on those calls we did refer this to the county and the DEP,” Lawson said, despite having become familiar with the routine after so many years. “They did come down and we discussed it and found that nothing was done that was illegal or inappropriate.”
    DEP officials tell a different story.

    “They do not have a permit,” department spokesman Larry Hajna said. “We are investigating unpermitted activity.”

    Later Thursday afternoon, Abadi confirmed he was issued a violation notice from the DEP for the site. But details about the violation were not available Thursday evening.

    Officials for New Jersey American Water, a company that provides drinking water for the township and has a well that sits about 300 feet from the site, said they were not going to react until a ruling is made.

    “We’re going to wait for the (DEP’s) determination to decide whether this is something we need to be concerned about,” company spokesman Richard Barnes said prior to news of a violation.

    Rabbi calls a halt
    Yet religious leaders stress their intention is to benefit the community by isolating the practice to one place deep in the woods, rather than burying in piecemeal fashion. Abadi said he hopes to reuse the site in future years.
    Longstanding but largely unnoticed, the practice used to occur mostly in cemeteries. It is considered an honor to be buried with sacred texts, Rabbi Moshe Zev Weisberg said. But as Orthodox populations exploded, more and larger spaces were required.

    Sites have been dug in the mountains in North Jersey, in Jackson off Frank Applegate Road, and in Lakewood off East 7th Street. Private companies have sprung up to haul the items away for small fees. But not until now has it become a public controversy.

    Abadi said, based on complaints and the DEP violation, no more bags will be unloaded off Vermont Avenue.

    “People have gotten a little crazy about it,” he said.


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    47 Comments
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    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    Ninty percent of the stuff they bury are not pages from seforim but junk mail, flyers sent around to the shuls eruv shabbos etc. The rabbonim and administrators are too lazy to sort out the real ahamos and instead just dump it all creating a bigger chillul hashem than simply sending it to the county landfill or incinerator.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    “I was like, this can’t be legal,” said Scott Wegeman, whose backyard on Albert Avenue is directly behind the burial site. “You can’t just treat your property like a landfill.”

    Why not, it’s my property?

    professor
    professor
    13 years ago

    These complaints are just anti-orthodox stupidity. Regulations should not be able to restrict this kind of victimless activity.

    Kim
    Kim
    13 years ago

    Interesting that this is the first year that there is a hechsher that the stuff actually gets buried we discover that it’s not so simple… I wonder

    KA SHAIMOS
    KA SHAIMOS
    13 years ago

    everything is under control just a few bored ppl with nothing better to do with their lives so they are just trying to make problems

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    “The practice usually coincides with Passover, since that is when Orthodox families do their spring cleaning. “>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

    And what on earth does shaimos have to do with Passover? NOTHING!

    This business of throwing what you think is junk and giving it to the local truck at the nearest syangogue is pure stupidity and nowhere in halacha does it state you should do this behavior.

    The people that do this are the same people that do spring cleaning in the name of cleaning for passover.

    This religion has become warped by many and judiasm was supposed to be a religion but has become a lucrative business.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    The Seforim themselves are probably biodegradable, so they shouldn’t cause any environmental hazard. The plastic bags they’re in are more of an issue – they last pretty much forever, and are dangerous for wildlife.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    is it me or does thie sound wierd: people are becoming over-zelous about shaimos?

    Expatriate Owl
    Expatriate Owl
    13 years ago

    What is so unusual about burying wastes in New Jersey? Isn’t that the main purpose for the existence of New Jersey in the first place?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    If you are burying paper product that’s one thing…to not spend the time and get rid of the plastic bags…that’s not a chillul Hashem

    Naftalcik
    Naftalcik
    13 years ago

    Not only do you pay them money to haul away your shaimos, but they then re-sell anything of value making a double profit off of you! There is an element of scam involved because they give you the impression that your fee is to cover the cost of the burial, but then they sell anything of value without telling you. Does that make anyone else uncomfortable?

    Shaya dov
    Shaya dov
    13 years ago

    Nice when Jews from lake wood masser on other Jews

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    Why can’t a handful of shaimos be burried with each funeral? What an aliyah for the nifter that would be. Oh, but no quick profits for the dumpers. Hmmm.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    Re; to # 11. I consider you ,one of them .

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    Re; to # 26. Speak for yourself .

    OldLakewooder
    OldLakewooder
    13 years ago

    Typical Lakewood mind set. “We can do anything we want and the heck with everyone else” But even “holy” Lakewood is part of this Galus and whenever Yidden forget that we receive unpleasant reminders. Wake up Lakewood and act with in humility and deeach eretz. These residents you ignore and vilify will one day hurt your causes because you trashed them. Ocean County is not Lakewood Township and you have zero clout at Ocean County. Wake up and build friendships with everyone.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    It’s pretty funny. Yidden bury shaimos in the woods. The mafia bury their enemies. No DEP fines for the mafia though !!! Bury the shimos at night !!!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    There are plenty of beis hachayims where they can put the stuff as has been done for 1000s of years so why do it in a residential area? We pay for the service so it can be done properly so do it properly!
    (Both satmars in monroe are looking for buyers)

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    In Manchester the common practise is for sheimos to be buried either at a levaya or whenever a new public building is started (beis Medrash, cheder, mikveh etc.(in the foundations), or handed in to a sheimos dispoal person who has a place in the beis hachayim for it. If you don’t sort it into real sheimos and just flyers etc. then it will cost you more to dispose of it as there is a lot more paper in your bag!! No backyard disposal places are needed this way.

    ich bi hadged
    ich bi hadged
    13 years ago

    Not only do these companies provide a necessary service to the community they also sustain a life long tradition for us jewish people. We should be uniting together to fight this discrimination. Yes, discrimination. The company that facilitated this burial has had to deal with the gov t renegging on their word before. It is more then just unconstitutional, it is prejudice! This particular company has done nothing against the law. Furthermore, they have made it easier for us all to partake in a mitzvah with no hassle whatsoever and at a reasonable price! We should be thanking them and giving them business for years to come. And to all the naysayers and us-jews-are-always-wrong folk, understand this: this is a parnassah for the proprietors. Maybe you have trouble being sensitive to that because clearly you have no job (this is evident from the fact that you have time to write such slander). To KA I wish you many more years of success and good fortune and I sincerely hope this works out in your favor.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    Wow, always amazed how people jump to wrong conclusions.
    For all those with tainos on the shaimos truck operators, yes they did have permits: the article quotes chief of police Lawson saying how they came to him to discuss the issue. Did you read the article before accusing them?
    This company, ka shamos, is run by young very meaning boys, whoso an enormeous service to the community. It is the only company -I believe- that has an hechsher, as they are supervised by rabbi Kissinger.
    In the past they have tried to sift through the shaimos, but this proved to be very tedious. Keep in mind that they have somewhere between 10 to 15 big 15′ trucks! Not the kind of stuff you can simply sneak in with the next levaya!

    Anyways, vosizneyas will for sure let us know in the near future what are the facts, who was right and who not. So why are we jumping at the necks of fellow Jews? These are honest, well meaning ydens who are working hard making a parnossa, giving a service to the community for a fraction of the cost that competitors demanded in the past. Why not give them the benefit of the doubt untill the full story comes to light?