Historic Hampton Roads Virginia Jewish cemetery sadly experienced vandalism
Maine Writer comment- It takes a horrible kind of evil to desecrate any cemetery. To harm Jewish headstones serves no purpose except to unjustly desecrate the deceased and spread antisemitism.
Opinion echo published in The Virginian Pilot newspaper:
The small cemetery in Hampton dating back to 1895, doesn’t announce itself. Most people drive past without a second glance.
But, buried within it are generations of members of the Jewish community whose stories continue to be felt by us today.
Any attempt to single out particular stories feels inadequate. The names left unmentioned are far more numerous, and their contributions no less profound.
But to name a few: Joe Frank rose to become the longest standing mayor of Newport News. Alan Diamonstein, elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1967, helped build one of the first housing development authorities in the nation to finance homes for working families and those with the least. Franklin Blechman, whom people called the “grandfather” of public service on the Peninsula, was a man so embedded in the civic life of this region that a full account of his contributions would fill a book. Walter Segaloff, whose vision gave rise to Achievable Dreams, transformed the lives of thousands of children across Hampton Roads. Many others names — civic leaders, merchants, neighbors, parents — are etched not only in stone but in the institutions, neighborhoods and traditions that define Hampton Roads.
When that cemetery was vandalized, something more than property was damaged.
We don’t yet know the motive. Law enforcement is investigating, and it’s possible this was random destruction rather than a targeted act of hatred. Those facts matter, and we should wait for them.
Yet, here is what we already know: Jewish cemeteries have been desecrated with grim regularity throughout history and even in recent years across the United States, where headstones are toppled and symbols of hate are spray-painted on ancient stones. The pattern is long and it is ugly. Whatever happened here, it landed on a community that carries that history in its bones and a broader community that rejects such hate.
And it landed at a particularly raw moment.
In recent years, Jewish communities across the country, including here on the Peninsula, have navigated a surge in antisemitic threats and activity. Jews make up only 2.4% of the American population yet are the target of 55% of all religious hate crimes in the United States.
The Jewish community of the Virginia Peninsula is not a community apart. It is woven into this place. Jewish families have been here for generations, building businesses along the waterfront, volunteering in schools and hospitals, and partnering with churches and civic organizations across racial and denominational lines.
Any attempt to single out particular stories feels inadequate. The names left unmentioned are far more numerous, and their contributions no less profound.
But to name a few: Joe Frank rose to become the longest standing mayor of Newport News. Alan Diamonstein, elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1967, helped build one of the first housing development authorities in the nation to finance homes for working families and those with the least. Franklin Blechman, whom people called the “grandfather” of public service on the Peninsula, was a man so embedded in the civic life of this region that a full account of his contributions would fill a book. Walter Segaloff, whose vision gave rise to Achievable Dreams, transformed the lives of thousands of children across Hampton Roads. Many others names — civic leaders, merchants, neighbors, parents — are etched not only in stone but in the institutions, neighborhoods and traditions that define Hampton Roads.
When that cemetery was vandalized, something more than property was damaged.
We don’t yet know the motive. Law enforcement is investigating, and it’s possible this was random destruction rather than a targeted act of hatred. Those facts matter, and we should wait for them.
Yet, here is what we already know: Jewish cemeteries have been desecrated with grim regularity throughout history and even in recent years across the United States, where headstones are toppled and symbols of hate are spray-painted on ancient stones. The pattern is long and it is ugly. Whatever happened here, it landed on a community that carries that history in its bones and a broader community that rejects such hate.
And it landed at a particularly raw moment.
In recent years, Jewish communities across the country, including here on the Peninsula, have navigated a surge in antisemitic threats and activity. Jews make up only 2.4% of the American population yet are the target of 55% of all religious hate crimes in the United States.
The Jewish community of the Virginia Peninsula is not a community apart. It is woven into this place. Jewish families have been here for generations, building businesses along the waterfront, volunteering in schools and hospitals, and partnering with churches and civic organizations across racial and denominational lines.
In fact, the history of integration on this Peninsula, the determined work of breaking down barriers between Black and white residents, includes Jewish voices and Jewish hands. William and Joanne Roos led the effort at their family’s Nachman’s Department Store in Newport News to be the first store in the city to integrate its lunch counter in the late 1950s. That story is buried in that cemetery, too.
We are a Jewish community that has always believed our fate is tied to the broader community. The same values that ask us to repair the world, to pursue justice and to welcome the stranger, are the values that have put Jewish Virginians side by side with everyone else.
So when someone damages the resting place of those who are woven into the fabric of this region, we ask our neighbors — all of our neighbors — not just to notice, but to stand with us. Not out of fear. Not to invite pity. But because this community has always shown up for others, we ask that you continue to show up and reaffirm the type of community we are.
The names on those headstones aren’t just Jewish history. They’re Virginia Peninsula history. They belong to all of us.
And they deserve to be treated that way.
We are a Jewish community that has always believed our fate is tied to the broader community. The same values that ask us to repair the world, to pursue justice and to welcome the stranger, are the values that have put Jewish Virginians side by side with everyone else.
So when someone damages the resting place of those who are woven into the fabric of this region, we ask our neighbors — all of our neighbors — not just to notice, but to stand with us. Not out of fear. Not to invite pity. But because this community has always shown up for others, we ask that you continue to show up and reaffirm the type of community we are.
The names on those headstones aren’t just Jewish history. They’re Virginia Peninsula history. They belong to all of us.
And they deserve to be treated that way.
Eric Maurer of Newport News is the CEO of Jewish Peninsula.
To learn more about the Jewish Cemetery’s restoration efforts, visit jewishpeninsula.org/cemetery-update.
Labels: Eric Maurer, Newport News, Virginian Pilot
posted by Juliana L'Heureux | 6:10 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home