NEWS AND EVENTS:
Check this page often for news updates and information about special events. Anytime is a good time to send us a donation!

RECENT TECHNICAL PROBLEMS:
Our Web site has experienced recent technical problems, as a result of which we may not have received some information you intended to send us when you tried to contact us, register for our mailing list, send us names and addresses, or volunteer to help.  If you did not receive a reply when you expected to receive one, please contact us at friends@friendsofjewishcemeteries.org.  We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience. 

CEMETERY TOURS:
In response to excellent suggestions and requests we received from our supporters, we began a program of monthly Cemetery Tours and offered our first scheduled tour in March 2006. These tours provide an excellent opportunity (1) to visit the graves of your loved ones; (2) to honor the memory of the entire Perth Amboy Jewish Community of yesteryear; (3) to learn interesting historical information about these cemeteries, those interred there, and the community in which they lived; and (4) to observe the current condition of the cemeteries and our progress in restoring them. We include a few prayers at each cemetery, to enhance our memorial tribute, and we follow each tour with a visit to a local restaurant, so that we can extend our reminiscing and socializing.  The tours are free, and all are welcome and invited to attend.

Our first tour program (in 2006) was very successful and popular, and we were sometimes accompanied by news reporters.  Our final 2006 tour (on November 19) was covered by Channel 12 News.  Our 2007 tours were even more rewarding, since many attendees invited their families to join them.  This enabled them to see cousins they hadn't seen for a long time and, in some cases, meet cousins they had never met before.  We plan to continue these tours throughout 2008, and we hope more families will plan reunions around our tour schedule.  Cemetery tours have been scheduled for the following dates in 2008:

• April 13
• May 11 (Mother's Day)
• June 15 (Father's Day)
• July 13
• August 17
• September 21
• October 26

Be sure to check back frequently for changes.  Our 2008 cemetery tour schedule appears in our Spring 2008 newsletter, which was distributed in March 2008. 

All tours will begin at 12:00 noon at the Hebrew Fraternity Cemetery entry gate on New Brunswick Avenue in Hopelawn. After a 1-hour tour of the Hebrew Fraternity Cemetery, we will drive to the Congregation Shaarey Tefiloh Cemetery on Florida Grove Road and Bingle Street for a 1-hour tour of that cemetery. WEAR VERY COMFORTABLE CLOTHES AND SHOES.  ALSO WEAR A HEADCOVER (BASEBALL CAP WILL BE FINE).

For those who are unable to attend a scheduled group tour, especially those who live at a distance and plan to visit this area at another time, we will be happy to arrange for a private tour at another time. Please contact us to make such arrangements.

Although all tours are free, advance registration is strongly recommended (via website or phone), so that we can notify you of any changes (bad weather or other emergencies, etc.).

RECENT CEMETERY VANDALISM:
We were deeply saddened by the recent vandalism and destruction at the Poile Zedek and Etz Ahaim Cemeteries in New Brunswick, and we are eager to help them.  Although we remain far from reaching our own fundraising goals, we support the fundraising effort organized by the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County. We share the pain of these synagogues (Congregation Poile Zedek in New Brunswick and Congregation Etz Ahaim in Highland Park) and the pain of the family members of those interred at these cemeteries.  We encourage you to be generous to this fundraising effort --- without diminishing your support to our own cause.  To donate to this cemetery restoration effort, go to www.jewishmiddlesex.org or send a check to Jewish Federation, 230 Old Bridge Turnpike, South River, NJ 08882.  Be sure to write "Cemetery Restoration" on your check.   

BIRTHDAY AND YAHRZEIT DONATIONS:
If you can't visit the cemeteries for a real tour, be sure to take the virtual tour on this website. Anytime you can't visit the graves of your loved ones in person, you can visit them online through this website. Instead of placing a stone on the grave during a real visit, you can send a donation to Friends for Preservation of Middlesex County Jewish Cemeteries, Inc. in memory of your loved ones ----- before the holidays, on a birthday or Yahrzeit, or at any other time. We will gladly place a stone on the graves for you. We do not want to compete with any synagogues or other institutions to which you are sending Yahrzeit donations. Please continue to send those donations, which are important to you and the recipient institutions, but please consider this an additional opportunity to honor and remember your loved ones, worthy of an additional donation to Friends for Preservation of Middlesex County Jewish Cemeteries, Inc.

BAR AND BAT MITZVAH PROJECTS AND STUDENT COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECTS:
We welcome calls from any students seeking projects for their Bar or Bat Mitzvahs or for school community service.  We offer project ideas using our cemeteries to perform mitzvahs and to learn about their heritage.  Any interested students should contact us through this website (using the "Contact Us" button on the left menu) or by phone (856-222-1418). 

NEW PARTNERS:
We have formed a partnership with The Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County, so that we can work together to achieve our goals.

NEW APPOINTMENT:
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Meredith Singer as our new Director of Media Relations. A recent graduate of Mount Holyoke College, Meredith also holds a Masters degree in comparative politics from The London School of Economics and Political Science. She has worked for the past year in corporate public relations and has garnered a stellar record of media placements in top-tier press and business journals.

Although Meredith has never lived in Perth Amboy, many of her ancestors did, and her grandfather and great-grandparents are interred at the Hebrew Fraternity Cemetery. We believe that Meredith's generous commitment of time and expertise to our organization makes a powerful statement and sends an important message to all members of her generation. We hope that others will follow her lead.

NEW BOARD MEMBER:
We welcome Jaclynn Faffer Silverstein to our Board of Directors.  She shares our commitment to our mission and brings experience, enthusiasm, and energy to our Board.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR NEW PROJECTS:

• Cemetery Registry:  Some of our supporters have suggested that we photograph and index all monuments at our cemeteries and provide these data to the JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry.  We are eager to add the names of those interred at our cemeteries and the photographs of their grave monuments to this wonderful international project, and we seek volunteers to assist with this effort.  Please contact us if you are willing to take photographs for this project or to assist in any other way.
• Perth Amboy Jewish History Book:  In 2001 a group of former Perth Amboy residents initiated plans to write a book about the history of the Perth Amboy Jewish Community.  We are assisting them in the preparation of this book and are thrilled that this project is making wonderful progress.  The book project organizers have already collected a great deal of material and are interviewing many people who have stories, memories, and photos to share.  If you know anyone who can help in any way ----- by providing historical information or photographs or by contributing financial support ----- please contact us.