Observant Jews throughout the world have registered their pain regarding the graves inadvertently recently disturbed in an until-then unidentified and unregistered Jewish cemetery. After months of agitation and diplomatic negotiations, the matter was brought to an end with the reburial of more than 100 unearthed Jewish remains on Sunday, June 21, 2009. This column has reported on the ongoing matter and we are proud that this column has served to air the issue and contributed to its resolution.

Dr. Bernard Fryshman is professor of physics at the New York Institute of Technology and executive vice president of the Association of Advanced Rabbinical and Talmudic Schools Accreditation Commission. Dr. Fryshman, also serves as a member of the Conference of Academicians for the Protection of Jewish Cemeteries. He is a highly respected activist within the observant community and this column has quoted him previously. Dr. Fryshman wrote to us as follows:

“Your continued focus on the desecration of Toledo’s Jewish cemetery has had important outcomes. There is a heightened awareness of the need to protect the integrity of our cemeteries, and the issue has moved higher on the Jewish agenda. We are most grateful.

“In his letter to you, Rabbi Ginsberg rightly objects to the use of the word ‘compromise’ in describing the work of his group. But nowhere in my letter – nor in my conversations  – did I use the word ‘compromise.’ Ergo – no insult, no implied criticism of choshuveh rabbanim, no need for outraged letters!

“Clearly, a brief review of the course of events is in order. American Jewish groups have been working since 2007 to stop the desecration of Jewish cemeteries in Spain. A largely inaccessible Desk Officer in the State Department, and a shamefully compliant Embassy in Madrid hampered our efforts. But most serious was the infamous Protocol issued by the Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain (FJCE), which provided ‘a guide for the exhumation of remains which must be done with maximum discretion and neatness.’

“Ordinarily, there is a strategy for dealing with communities of Jews in Europe which accede to the excavation of Jewish cemeteries. We point out that many such Jews act under duress: it is very difficult for local Jews to stand up to pressure from their (often not friendly) non-Jewish neighbors. These localities rarely have rabbanim capable of rendering decisions relating to cemeteries, and we always explain that Europe’s Jewish cemeteries belong to the Jewish people as a whole, not to the Jews who happened to have settled in one particular locale.

“We were stymied in Spain. Two respected European Jewish groups were openly cooperating with the FJCE, in spite of the FJCE Protocol. The Spanish Government viewed this as implied approval of the Protocol and proceeded to empty the Toledo cemetery. More, protests lodged with the American government were referred to the local Jewish community.

“This FJCE Protocol has implications far beyond Spain. As long as respected Jewish groups are viewed as comfortable with FJCE (and by extension to the Protocol language), governments everywhere will feel justified at emptying Jewish cemeteries.

“It would seem, as a first step, that all groups (American, European, and Israeli) should join in a public statement repudiating the Protocol and reaffirming the right of the Jewish dead to rest undisturbed, forever. Hopefully, there would also be a public statement confirming the limitations of local Jewish communities in matters relating to Jewish cemeteries.

“For the immediate future, we continue to press for a renewed, effective focus by our own State Department on cemetery protection. The cemetery issue had been marginalized in the previous administration, and hopefully will be undone – provided we can reach friends in Congress and elsewhere.

“There is an ongoing effort with respect to Spain, given the hundreds of Jewish bodies excavated from Barcelona, Seville, and elsewhere, which have not yet been re-buried. The fact that Spain spends over $25 million per year advertising in the United States, seeking contracts and investments, suggests that officials may yet hear our pleas.

“The ability to have this conversation in The Jewish Press is much appreciated, but clearly not optimal. Three separate attempts on my part to discuss cemetery issues with some of those mentioned by Rabbi Ginsberg were rebuffed. Perhaps one positive outcome of this `Machberes’ exchange will be a reopening of direct communications as well.

“Thank you again for your help and support.”

(Source: The Jewish Press)