Ancient Jewish cemetery of Ivano-Frankivsk to be redeveloped
Redevelopment of the ancient Jewish cemetery was started in Kalush city of Ivano-Frankivsk region. The necropolis repeatedly suffered from fires and debris. Although there are trash cans everywhere, unidentified persons throw all kinds of waste around the cemetery.
The Jewish cemetery of Kalushis the last historical landmark of the city, but no one pays attention to this. Broken bottles, paper, old clothes and different waste is scattered all over the cemetery. Rabbi of Ivano-Frankivsk region Moishe Leib Kolesnik notes that the local Jewish community finds it difficult to maintain order because they are not numerous.
“The cemetery is old and historically important. Here the righteous Isaac Leifer, father of the founder of Hasidic dynasty in Nadvirna district of Ivano-Frankivsk region found eternal rest. Now the Jewish community takes care of the cemetery, although this community comprises only a few elderly people. They clear up the cemetery, and the situation is repeated in a month and a half,” Moishe Leib says.
The organizer of clean-up was Igor Kerner, head of the Jewish community of Kalush. He says it’s a shame before people who come from abroad to visit the cemetery.
"We try to do it before the Jewish holidays and when the cemetery looks unsightly. Sometime there was neat fence around, and now they throw rubbish regardless of the garbage dump, and enter the territory of the cemetery. People have gathered and taken away everything, have put everything in order,” says Igor Kerner. The cleanup is carried out several times a year. The problem is that the Jewish community is not numerous and the cemetery is very large and there are not enough people.
“Sometimes we are assisted by school children; we clean a part of the cemetery,being unable to clean it at once. It is plied with waste, hundreds of people are needed to come and clean it up,” says Mykhailo, a participant of cleaning.
The cemetery set on fire in the night of January 12-13, and firefighters extinguished the flames in time, Yulia Golovchyn reports.
