August 15, 2014: UJO Applauds President Obama for Signing "The Protect Cemeteries Act"; Rabbi David Niederman Commens Congresswoman Meng for Spearheading the Legislation

This week's UJO Column (p. 20 Top Item), applauded President Obama for signing "The Protect Cemeteries Act," and thanked Rep. Grace Meng, for spearheading the bill in Congress, and it's Lead Senate Sponsor Senator Ben Cardin, together with a number of others who helped pass the bill.

In addition, the Editorial page of this week's Der Yid (p.15, bottom item) lauded the bill, stressing that it's rare that a legislation is crafted solely after interventions by the community should reach the cemetery's desk, and this is highly commendable.

Here is an English version of the article:

Williamsburg – The UJO of Williamsburg and North Brooklyn thanks and applauds President Obama for signing in into law "The Protect Cemeteries Act" (H.R. 4208) which amends the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to include the desecration of cemeteries among the many forms of violations of the right to religious freedom. Special credit goes to Congresswoman Grace Meng, who spearheaded this law in Congress, and Senator Ben Cardin, the Sponsor of an identical Senate version.

The issue of cemetery preservations is one that is very dear to the Williamsburg Jewish community, one that was formed by Holocaust survivors and came to the United States and started to rebuild the community from scratch. The cemeteries of their ancestors are among the only and the holiest things that they left behind them in the Eastern Europe towns and villages. As time passes on, these holy links to our past are more and more threatened by greedy developers and others, sometimes with clear anti-Semitic intentions. The Williamsburg Community is working for decades to stop the decimation of the holy cemeteries globally. As part of these efforts, the late Congressman Stephen Solarz of Williamsburg heeded the call of the community and passed a law to establish the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad – a panel appointed by the president - that is active in preserving cemeteries and other landmarks overseas.

"The Protect Cemeteries Act" will add an important tool in the arsenal for the protecting of the Jewish cemeteries. Rep. Meng was personally thanked her for that by Rabbi Niederman today, at an event arranged by the Vaad Harabubim of Queens at the Margaret Tietz Nursing & Rehabilitation Center to mark the passage of the law. Congresswoman Meng thanked Dr. Bernard Fryshman, leader of the Conference of Academicians for the Protection of Jewish Cemeteries that works very closely with Asra Kadisha on the preservation of cemeteries, who was advocating for such a bill since 2007, and the brothers Rabbi Pinchas Hecht, Executive Director of the Mir Yeshiva, and Rabbi Avrohom Hecht of the Vaad Harabunim of Queens, for bringing it to her attention.

The article also quotes Congresswoman Meng:

“I applaud President Obama for signing this important bipartisan legislation into law,” said Meng. “This new law makes it clear that that our society will not tolerate the desecration of cemeteries whether motivated by anti-Semitism, hate or greedy and uncaring developers. It will be a new and critical tool to combat the desecration of cemeteries, and provide a much needed boost towards promoting preservation, tolerance and respect for cemeteries across the globe. I cannot be happier that this critical piece of legislation is now the law of the land. Many thanks to Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) for handling the measure in the Senate, and I commend all my colleagues in both chambers who supported it.”

Rabbi Niederman said:

"I was excited to be told by Congresswoman Meng today that the President has signed this important bill on Friday, and I expressed to her the appreciation of a grateful Williamsburg community for leading this effort. We are also thankful to Senator Cardin for his work in the Senate. Additionally we want to thank our Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, for co-sponsoring the bill together with Representatives Doug Collins (R-GA) and Alan S. Lowenthal (D-CA), and to our local Congresswoman Nydia Velasquez for strongly supporting this bill in the House, and for Senator James E. Risch (R-ID) for co-sponsoring it in the Senate. We especially want to express our appreciation for Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, for ensuring that the bill comes to a vote in the House, and for the Senate Foreign Relation Committee, its Chair Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Ranking Member Bob Corker (R-TN), for passing it in the Senate.” 

“We hope and pray that countries around the world will allow the Jews buried there to rest in peace for eternity, but in cases that they G-d forbid don't, this bill helps the U.S. government act for those that cannot,” Rabbi Niederman concluded.

UJO Column, August 15, 2014

August 8, 2014 Column (2): Bill to Classify Desecration of a Cemetery as a Religious Freedom Violation Passed in Senate; UJO Thanks Rep. Meng and Senator Cardin

The second item of last week's column reported on the U.S. Senate passing of the Protect Cemeteries Act, that was introduced and passed by Congresswoman Grace Meng in the House of Representatives. The law, that will Classify the desecration of cemeteries as a Religious Freedom Violation, will be a vital tool to assist in the effort to protect cemeteries internationally.

The law follows years of work by Dr. Bernard Fryshman, Chairman of the Conference of Academicians for the Protection of Jewish Cemeteries, who advocated for such a measure, pointing out that desecration cemeteries is indeed a gross violation of the religious freedoms of those interred in the cemeteries and the Jewish people. Rabbi Pinchos Hecht, Administrator of the Mir Yeshiva, and his brother Rabbi Avrohom Hecht, Executive Director of the Canarsie Jewish Community Council, and other community leaders, were very active in calling for such legislation. 

Congresswoman Meng, a tireless advocate for Jewish interests, took up the issue, and now succeeded to get it passed in the House and the Senate (the Senate passed the House Resolution, instead of an own version of the bill) and it's heading to the President for his signature. The law will include the desecration of cemeteries among a list of religious issues that the Department of State monitors and report on in their annual Religious Freedom reports. 

In statements to announce the bill, Rep. Meng specifically mentioned the importance of such a law to preserve Jewish cemeteries in Eastern Europe from where the Jewish communities were uprooted during the holocaust, leaving the cemeteries without caretakers and protection. She also said that the amendment will strengthen the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, created by a law passed by the late Congressman Steve Solarz. Solarz represented the Williamsburg Jewish community, and passed this law on the urging of the late Rabbi Zvi Kastenbaum, who served on the commission for many years. During a reception earlier in the year in Williamsburg by the UJO for Lesley Weiss, the Commission Chair, and Commissioner Herbert Bloch - participated by the leaders of the main congregations in Williamsburg, Asra Kadisha and others - Rabbi Pinchs Hecht discussed the effort to pass the amendment and its importance. 

"We express our heart-felt thanks to our dedicated co-worker Dr. Bernard Fryshman, for his long-lasting effort to get governments to recognized the importance of the preservation of cemeteries. I also want to express my hearty appreciation to Rabbi Hecht and all dedicated activists who helped bring upon this law, that will hopefully assist in the ongoing efforts for the preservation of cemeteries worldwide," said Rabbi Lazar Stern, Chairman of Asra Kadisha (the world-renown organization that is active for half a century to protect Jewish cemeteries worldwide, and their efforts were  mentioned in Department of State's Religious Freedom reports in the past here). 

"I thank the Congresswoman for introducing and pass the important piece of legislation. We thank Senator Cardin for sponsoring the law in Senate. We thank Congressman Jeffries of Williamsburg for co-sponsoring the law, and we look forward for the signage of the law by the President," said Rabbi David Niederman.

"Congresswoman Meng's law will - with Go-d's help - tremendously assist to convince governments to provide the required protection to cemeteries from developers and other interests, and will strengthen the hands of activists and the Heritage Commission's power to save cemeteries," Rabbi Niederman concluded. 

UJO Weekly Column, August 18, 2014