Queens, NY – Judge Throws Out Lawsuit of Negligence Against Jewish Cemetery

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    Bayside Cemetery (photo credit Maisel for Daily News)Queens, NY – One of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in New York City will remain an eyesore and a disgrace to the memories of thousands buried there for the foreseeable future.

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    A judge has tossed out a lawsuit filed against Bayside Cemetery in Ozone Park charging the operator with failing to maintain the perpetual care of the plots.

    Federal Judge Raymond Dearie ruled there is no jurisdiction in federal court for the class-action suit, which was filed more than two years ago.

    “As the court has noted from the outset of these proceedings, all agree that Bayside Cemetery’s state of decay and disrepair is disheartening and in need of prompt repair,” Dearie stated in his decision.

    The court papers depict the cemetery – founded in the mid-19th century – as a worthy setting for a horror movie, with human remains exposed in desecrated crypts. The grounds are overgrown with weeds and brush, completely covering many tombstones, rendering paths impassible.

    Michael Buchman, an attorney who is representing five descendants of Jews buried in the cemetery, filed a new lawsuit yesterday in Manhattan Supreme Court against Congregation Shaare Zedek, an upper West Side synagogue that owns and operates the cemetery.

    “After two years of judicial delays, Chief Judge Dearie concocted a reason to dismiss the case from federal court,” said plaintiff John Lucker, of Connecticut, whose grandparents purchased a burial plot there in the 1970s.

    “In the meantime, Bayside Cemetery continues to be in a horrific, disgraceful condition and Congregation Shaare Zedek continues not to be held accountable,” he said.

    After the suit was originally filed, Rabbi Julia Andelman of Shaare Zedek told the Daily News that many of the burial societies that sold the plots have disappeared or stopped contributing to the upkeep of the grounds.


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    37 Comments
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    lucky 2b alive
    lucky 2b alive
    14 years ago

    “rabbi” julie (you are a disgrace!) aside from your completly miguided version of the torah, have you no honor or sympathy for anything sacred . how could u allow the jewish bodies to lie in disgrace like this. this is one of the greatest mizvot in your hands, and u dispose of it like a dirty tissue, shame on you. if u have no interest in this cemetary, give it over to the kevra kadisha and they will care for it . good grief! you people make me ill.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    The ehrleche (and wealthy) yidden of Shaare Zedek have much better things to do with their money than waste it on kovod hames or maintaining some old gravesites. For example, this sunday afternoon, they are hosting their first world music day “Peace Concert:” to promote better understanding among the people of the world. this is such a kiddush hashem and clearly takes priority over somthing as depressing as a cemetery described as somthing out of a horror movie.

    A yid
    A yid
    14 years ago

    “Rebbetzin” Julie not rabbi.

    Aharon
    Aharon
    14 years ago

    Rather than attacking Miss Julie why don’t yungerleit volunteer to do chesed shel emes and clean the place up?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    RavAndelman is a highly regard rabbanit and recognized scholar. Her point is simple. The shul simply serves as the administrator for the many burial societies that actually own the gravesites and have contracted for perpetual care which they never paid for. The shul does not have the resources to pay these costs for all the societies. This is a collective obligation for the entire NYC jewish community and not just one shul. Rather than wasting money on big parties, concerts, day trips and fabrengens such as we saw on chol ha’moed succos and simchas beis ha’shoaevah, why didn’t all the rabbonim throughout the city, including BP, WB etc. issue a directive to spend the time with shovels and rakes and begin cleaning up these cemetaries. This is not the only one in this condition.

    Just Wondering
    Just Wondering
    14 years ago

    I have often wondered why so many Jewish cemeteries are neglected and overgrown with weeds while goyishe cemetery plots are tended so well and maintained neatly. any ideas why this is the case? BTW I am a frum Jew so this is a real question.

    yeapb
    yeapb
    14 years ago

    I too have lnog wondered why our youth can’t help out in situations like this, it certainly is better than just hanging out. Also, what about all those organisations constantly asking for money to preserve the European cemetaries, what about the ones in the U.S. like this?

    Legal fees
    Legal fees
    14 years ago

    I was just wondering, does anyone know if there were legal fees charged here or did the lawyers for BOTH side do this pro bono. If they paid money to attorneys over the last 2 years it would be a shame since that money could have gone to clean the place up.

    Dovid
    Dovid
    14 years ago

    Yeshivas are always looking for chesed projects – here is exercise and fresh air.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    “Yeshivas are always looking for chesed projects – here is exercise and fresh air”

    I’m not sure about the fresh air part of your suggestion, but promoting “exercise” is mamash apikorsus for yeshiva bochurim.

    Z. N. Mishegoss
    Z. N. Mishegoss
    14 years ago

    My grandparents OBM are buried in the Old Montefiore only a few hundred feet from Rav Schneerson’s grave, and when I went to visit in August, I was appalled at the condition – we’ve had perpetual care since their passing, long since fully paid for, and nearly every year I find the place looking like a jungle and I have to complain. They did an OK job cleaning up after a geshrei you could hear in Albany, but I think we’ve got to stay on the cases of cemetery managers to make sure the places are kept up. I think they’re skimping because it’s now two or more generations removed from the people who bought plots in the burial societies – who imagines the grandchildren go to visit?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    The comments above about burial societies owning the cemetery and not paying for perpetual care at Bayside Cemetery is simply NOT TRUE. Go to http://www.baysidecemeterylitigation.com to learn more. Congregation Shaare Zedek misappropriated (stole?) over $5 million of the cemetery’s funds to do things like fix the synagogue’s roof. They admitted that in a recent NY Daily News article. By the way, do you think that when someone buys a burial plot at a cemetery that a real estate transaction takes place? Of course not. The right to bury someone is what is purchased. So to say the cemetery/synagogue doesn’t own the land is ridiculous. And thousands of people bought perpetual care at the cemetery. Just go to the litigation website to learn more. I read the class action lawsuit was refiled in NY State Supreme Court so the case lives on. I hope the plaintiffs will prevail. Congregation Shaare Zedek has committed great shameful acts of disrespect on the 35,000 dead jewish people in the cemetery.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I am orthodox, and live in a small midwestern community.

    Last summer i was visiting the orthodox cemetery to get some information from a tombstone on behalf of out-of-town grandchildren. While there, I saw about a dozen teens. Asking them what they were doing in the cemetery on a hot summer afternoon, they told me that they were from the local reform summer camp, and were volunteering their time to spruce up the cemetery.

    Nobody was paying them, nobody taking pictures, nobody putting articles in the paper etc. Had i not been there, i would have never known………

    get real
    get real
    14 years ago

    Volunteering is not the answer here. We’re talking about around 13 acres of land that have been neglected so long that they have become a forest. The roots of the trees are entangled in the graves, mausoleums are open and desecrated bodies are strewn about needing reburial, a huge, professional, effort needs to be made here.

    The state has laws about how perpetual care funds are to be used to make sure cemeteries receive perpetual care, but those laws obviously did not help here.

    If you are interested in more information (and responses by Ms. Julia Andelman), I recommend that you check out Bayside Acacia Cemetery on citynoise.org.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    why in Europe all jewish cemetaries are being taken care of and here in america its a disaster? It should never have come to this.

    Askupeh
    Askupeh
    14 years ago

    Bayside Cemetery is 13 or so acres with about 35,000 graves. Here is more (http://citynoise.org/article/8696), (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayside_Acacia_Cemetery,_Queens).

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    When things like this occur in the abandoned cemeteries in Europe the whole world gets excited ans it’s called antisemitism. But here it happens twenty minutes from Boro Park and nobody cares. How sad.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    In Massachusetts they created the “Jewish Cemetery Assoc. to manage and clean up the cemeteries of long defunct synagogues. We can’t we do something like this in NY? Perhaps this org. could be contacted for advice.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Reply to #14
    I too have grandparents in the Old Montefiore cemetary, but on the opposite side of the grounds from Rabbi Schneerson, in an older, more dense area. On a visit there last year, I was warned by the caretaker about the numerous stray dogs prowling in the cemetary and occasionally attacking visitors. When I checked again a few months ago, they said they had removed about 7 dogs, but there were still more and reports of attacks. I really can’t understand how the cemetary can’t just get rid of this problem altogether. We hurried our visit for fear of our safety. This apparently was not a concern though, at the area of the Ohel, where numerous people were coming and going.

    As for the Bayside Acacia situation, I looked at the photos on the citinoise website some time ago and was horrified. I do know of someone who is buried in one of those 3 adjacent cemetaries, not sure which, and I would also be willing to offer physical labor such as I am capable of, if someone would organize a volunteer project. Having seen the extent of decay and damage in the photos, though, I would agree that it calls for professional intervention, at least in a supervisory capacity.

    chaim
    chaim
    14 years ago

    I would like to volunteer does any one know who to contact and I wouldn’t mind help from others who would like to join

    me too
    me too
    14 years ago

    I think if word got out with details , u would see volunteers and money come forth. I don’t read the daiky news so this is the 1st time I’m hearing of this . let’s all mobilize and do this mitzvah . but I think the hesiatation might be to not involve rabbi julie, as she clearly wouldn’t have the faintist idea as to the complicated halachos of buriel that these people expected . where do I sign up? thank u vin for bringing this up. please stick to this story as u will also have a chelek in dmitzvah

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    For those who might be ready to volunteer I would suggest looking at the numerous photos and ongoing blog posts regarding the cemeteries at the citinoise website. On the home page I put in the keywords “Bayside Acacia Cemetery”. It is worthwhile to understand the scope of the problem. There are some very dedicated people on that site who have already organized volunteering days, but almost all agree that their efforts were a drop in the ocean…….. In addition, they speak of a (semi-professional) ecological survey done at Columbia University a few years ago, which advised that a proper clean up at Bayside cemetery would run into hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of hours of labor. So many people seem to want to do something…..but feel the enormity of the project renders them helpless.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Something should be done. There is no greater chilul than the lack of kavod hames! Hopefully, if these things are true, that now something will be done to correct them. Hashem yerachem!