By COLlive reporter
The historic Jewish cemetery in Haditch, located in the Poltava Oblast of Ukraine, has 500 graves dating back over 200 years.
But Jewish activists recently discovered that it isn’t registered in governmental records.
They encountered this hurdle while planning to build a new protective fence around the cemetery, stretching 2,723 feet and on a slope.
“The location of the cemetery in Haditch necessitated dealing with the topographical difficulties and terrain conditions,” one of them said.
“The place was not registered as a cemetery in the Ukrainian Land Registry, and as part of the authorities’ approval, this was amended and the cemetery area was registered according to the local land registration law.”
Behind the effort is the European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative (ESJF) who said this was one of the largest fencing projects they have undertaken to date.
Moreover, the said, the fence was specially designed for the cemetery, constructed entirely from metal, allowing passers-by to view the tombstones inside.
Rabbi Meir Stambler, Chairman of the Council of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine, praised the effort which was completed ahead of the 24th of Teves, yartzeit of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liani, the Alter Rebbe and found of Chabad, who is buried there.
The Alter Rebbe’s Ohel is visited on the day of his yartzeit and year-round by Jews of different backgrounds and from around the world.
I never understood the purpose of putting up such fences? Is it to keep people out? Is it to “separate” the living from the dead?
For centuries there was no fence, so why the sudden need for a fence? In Haditch, there are already signs for kohanim,, so why a fence?