New Jersey: thousands of scattered geniza bags strewn

Thousands of black plastic bags containing archival materials are rolling disgracefully in New Jersey. Ten trailers parked close by containing archive material – removed a few months ago from their burial in the cities of Lakewood and Jackson, by EPA order.

Larry Simmons, a 76-year-old Jew who lives nearby, and who approached the authorities and demanded their intervention, states his pain due to contempt of the geniza.

Tens of tons of geniza are buried in the cities of Lakewood and Jackson without the appropriate permits. Consequently, a Supreme Court judge in New Jersey ordered Rabbi Chaim Abadi - Commissioner of the Geniza a few months ago, to remove it from burial.
Months passed, and thousands of geniza bags are rolling throughout the winter in the snow and rain, and Rabbi Abadi has yet to find an exchange burial place, he said: "I have no idea how to solve the problem, to date we still have no burial place." Rabbi Abadi also tells that he has gained urban reports of tens of thousands of dollars, for not having found a solution while the daily fine he receives is about one thousand dollars.

Rabbi Schwartz, from the Beis Geniza, located in Monroe, an organization approved by the authorities, who owns an authorized archiving cemetery, offers Rabbi Abadi to end the affair at maximum speed. According to him, Rabbi Abadi buried the archives in private property in Lakewood, without the establishment of a cemetery for burial required in the U.S., on the grounds that the ink of the books enters the groundwater and damages them.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!