North Arlington Jewish Cemetery

Jun 2020

I came upon this cemetery some years ago while driving around in the area. It's on a bleak stretch of road used as a truck route, situated on the border of North Arlington and Kearny, stuck between what I remember as a deserted diner (at least it was never open when I was there) and a concrete factory. The landscape was depressing, polluted swampland. The cemetery is relatively small; maybe a couple of acres. But it was sad--- it looked like it had been abandoned decades before (even though I've subsequently read that it's still active). Over the years, I came here a few times, and I never saw a living soul. In an article, Jay Levin wrote, "Synagogues in Hudson County created the cemetery at the turn of the 20th century. They bought patches of land from a cooperative and sold burial rights to their members. The synagogues were charged with keeping up their sections but most are long defunct, effectively making the cemetery an orphan." The fence surrounding the cemetery is collapsing into ruin. Gravestones have fallen over. The ground is unkempt, uneven, overgrown. I walked carefully through the grounds, the only person around (which was more than a little unnerving), examining the enameled portraits on the headstones, which have always fascinated me. A permanent memory of the grave's long dead resident. Unfortunately, not so permanent, in some cases. One portrait was of a smiling teenaged girl who had died in the 1930s (it stayed with me, because her smile seemed filled with hope for a future that was never coming, and because her name on the stone was given as "Bess Myerson"). The next time I came to the cemetery, the portrait had been smashed, obliterated. I'd like to think maybe that was because of the age of the portrait, maybe the elements, rather than a malicious human being, but I doubt it. Certainly the dead are beyond worrying about the condition of the cemetery,or their headstones, having gone on to the "reward" that awaits all of us. But it can't be an uplifting or heartening experience for the relatives who come here to visit. For me, it was a very sad, depressing cemetery walk. I haven't been here in several years, but the memory of it stays with me. I've tried to "copy and paste" an article I found on the internet that sort of echoes that sentiment: