The Beth Israel Cemetery in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, has been dealing with squatters and vandalism on its property for the past few months, including people leaving trash in a mausoleum and overturning tombstones.
Josh Cutler, the local Jewish historian, said he has documented several problems at the cemetery since June.
“This is holy ground and it needs to be treated as such,” Cutler said. “It’s being used as a homeless encampment.”
NBC10 went to the cemetery to find makeshift living spaces, bike tires, shattered glass, as well as trash in places like the mausoleum and overturned tombstones.
“It made my heart, my gut and my head say that this is not right,” said Cutler, who also noted the cemetery is the final resting place for several Holocaust survivors.
The Director of the Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center at Stockton University, Irvin Moreno-Rodriquez, also visited the cemetery to take a look at the situation himself.
“For me, it was really important to look at the graves of survivors who are located here to make sure that they’re taken care of,” he said. “Of course with the aim of always remembering and never forgetting.”
Cutler said he has alerted leaders of the synagogue that owns the cemetery of the situation several times, but has not seen enough changes so far.
“I have not seen any positive change since I’ve been here in June,” Cutler said.
However, Beth Israel’s President, Executive Director and Director of Education, Linda Karp, answered NBC10’s inquiry within an hour of reaching out and said the congregation is working to clean up the cemetery, including removing a building on the property being used as a makeshift living space once its power is shut off.
The congregation is also getting a new locking gate for the mausoleum and says a caretaker does work constantly to remove trash from the site.
“We’re working on it as quickly as we can. We’re aware of everything, and Josh was aware of that too,” Karp said. “We do have police that come by here. The caretaker comes by.”
Cutler said he hopes the situation is resolved soon and the sacred ground is giving the respect it deserves.
“I believe we need to come together as a community to fix this,” he said.
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