SACREDGROUND
Beautification project restores Worcester’s Jewish cemeteries BY STACEY DRESNER
W
ORCESTER – After a successful capital campaign that raised more than the goal of $400,000, the effort to refurbish Worcester’s Jewish cemeteries is nearly done. Both Worcester Hebrew Cemetery and Chevra Kadisha have been landscaped, fallen gravestones have been up-righted, fresh paint covers cement posts and stairways, and new signs now welcome visitors to the cemeteries. Dana Levenson, chair of the Worcester Jewish Cemetery Improvement Association (WJCIA), said that the third cemetery, B’nai B’rith Cemetery, should be finished by early next year. “We may end up having to wait until the spring because there’s some fairly heavy iron work that needs to be done, replacing gates and cement posts,” Levenson said. “But I fully expect that by the time spring rolls around, we will have three pretty much completely renovated cemeteries here in Worcester.” Levenson got involved with the effort to restore the area’s Jewish cemeteries after visiting B’nai B’rith Cemetery on Memorial Day in 2017 with his sons to help the Jewish War Veterans put flags on the graves of veterans.
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Noticing overgrown graves, toppled gravestones and inadequate signage, he then visited Worcester Hebrew Cemetery and Chevra Kadisha, which were in much the same condition. Levenson contacted Steven Schimmel, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Central Mass., and the Federation approved the formation of the WJCIA, which includes an advisory board of community laypeople involved in running the cemeteries. Schimmel praised Levenson’s work as chair of the cemetery improvement association and the capital campaign.
MASSACHUSETTS JEWISH LEDGER
| NOVEMBER 13, 2020
“Dana’s leadership on the project was the reason for its success,” Schimmel said. “He’s been so committed to it and has really led the way, both in the fundraising and the actual execution of the beautification project. That’s been really impressive and it’s been great to work with him on it.” The WJCIA originally sought to raise $400,000 for the cemetery capital campaign. In the end, $401,500 was raised. Some of the larger donors were businessman and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft; real estate developer and Worcester native Jeff Greene; businessman and philanthropist Sheldon
Adelson; and the Sigel Family Foundation. But Levenson said that the whole community made the campaign a success. “We had around 110 donors. We got gifts as small as $25 and we got gifts as large as $6,000. The average gift was around $600 or $700.” Most of the soliciting had been done by last spring before Covid, with the campaign ending in April. “We asked when we solicited people that if you made a pledge we really would like you to pay by June 1,” Levenson said. “And just about everyone has.” Three months ago the physical work at the cemeteries began. “We did THE ENTRANCE OF landscaping, arborial WORCESTER HEBREW CEMETERY BEFORE ITS work, signage and we RESTORATION. did the righting of stones, and a lot of cement work. “In one of the cemeteries, Worcester Hebrew, there was a huge number of tombstones that were down,” Levenson said. “They weren’t toppled by anybody but rather they actually got felled by a tree bough that fell. And there were some others stones in the cemetery that had toppled because of frost heaves [swelling of soil during freezing temperatures]. Now there are virtually no tombstones that are on the ground; they’re all sitting upright, the way they should.” At Worcester Hebrew much of the cement work – pillars, steps and walkways – were given a fresh coat LYA STUDENTS DOING THEIR SCHOOLWORK OUTSIDE of white paint. Two fur trees next to the
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