Sep 4, 2019

Burying Sacred Jewish Texts in a South Florida Jewish Cemetery

In partnership with Mishkan Miami: The Jewish Connection for Spiritual Support, Federation honored Jewish tradition by burying out-of-date sacred books in a South Florida Jewish cemetery. Thanks to the generous donation of a burial plot by Levitt-Weinstein Blasberg Rubin-Zilbert Memorial Chapels, the holy books, which are no longer used, were buried as a sign of reverence and respect in a ritual led by Rabbi Frederick Klein, Director of Mishkan Miami. In some ways, the ceremony recalls the example of the famous Cairo Genizah, located in the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Old Cairo, which contained more than 200,000 documents and ritual objects dating back as far as the 10th Century. Burying the books is a way that we respect and cherish not only the objects themselves, but also the thousands of prayers uttered by fellow Jews in our community. "It was an honor to be part of this tradition and treat our sacred books with the same dignity and respect that we treat our loved ones," said Michael Blasberg, Director of Area Operations for Levitt-Weinstein.