North Arlington Jewish Cemetery is a cemetery dating to the turn of the 19th century, and located in

North Arlington, New Jersey North Arlington is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 15,392,Belleville Turnpike (New Jersey Route 7). It is situated on a roughly triangular four-acre piece of land, between the gritty industrial park of Porete Avenue and the much larger

Arlington Memorial Park Arlington Memorial Park is a cemetery located mostly within the Arlington section of Kearny in Hudson County, New Jersey, on Schuyler Avenue. Prior to its creation the ground was owned by Julius Pratt, who later negotiated the development of t ...

grounds on the other side of the Route 7. Porete Ave, which borders the Kearny landfill and the

New Jersey Meadowlands New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the primary river flowing through it, is a general name for the large ecosystem of wetlands in northeastern New Jersey in the United States, a few miles to the west of ...

, surrounds most of the cemetery. At the time the cemetery was formed, however, it was situated among woods and farmland. The exclusively Jewish cemetery consists of 12 to 21 divisions, each allocated to a Jewish society or synagogue, except for one area owned by

Hudson County Hudson County is the most densely populated county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It lies west of the lower Hudson River, which was named for Henry Hudson, the sea captain who explored the area in 1609. Part of New Jersey's Gateway Region in ...

, which it uses as potter's field for its Jewish war

veterans A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that h ...

History

Arlington Cemetery Services (the cemetery across the street) owned the land in 1896. It gained tax exempt status for cemetery use, but did not actually expand into the new area until about 1900. One of its constituent associations, the North Arlington Cemetery Association, owned by a Jew named Mintz, requested permission on November 8 1899 from the State of New Jersey to open the parcel as a cemetery, and having received permission on January 2 1900, bought the land from the larger association, and opened the first plots on the east end of the parcel. The oldest marker shows 1899, which predates the official opening of the cemetery. Mintz then sold the cemetery to a Mr. Savage, who owned the West Arlington Association, which was then sold to a Mr. Cheplowitz, who died around December 1970. West Arlington Association owned the overall cemetery, but its sections were sold to about 20 other benevolent societies, most belonging to a synagogue or temple in the surrounding counties of Hudson, Bergen, and Essex. Cheplowitz' son did not want to continue managing the cemetery, and agreed to allow a new association to buy him out in mid-1971. The new owners were known as either Israel Arlington Cemetery Services, or United Cooperative Cemetery Services.

Layout

A solitary cemetery road divides the property roughly in half, with the older, southern/eastern half occupied mostly by

Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...

temples,

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

synagogues, and secular organizations. ''Congregation Adas Emuno'' of

Hoboken Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,69 ...

is the oldest association of the cemetery. This is their second cemetery (their first is fully abandoned), in use since the early twentieth century, possibly during the era of Mintz' ownership. Adas Emuno's section occupies the southeastern corner of the property. Many of Newark's defunct

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

synagogues occupy the northern half. A local Conservative synagogue, ''Congregation B'nai Israel of Kearny and North Arlington,'' has space between the cemetery road and the Newark sections. Rabbi Jacob Mendelson, the chief rabbi of Newark at the time that the Newark section was purchased, is buried close to the northern tip of the cemetery, along with many members of his extended family.

Condition

The cemetery has a long history of neglect, dating back to the 1970s. At that time, the long-term owner-manager died, and the cemetery staff was furloughed to irregular work. A new association took over the cemetery, and promised to have full time staff five days a week, and to maintain the site well. However, by the late 1980s, it had fallen into disrepair and neglect again. the cemetery is in very rough shape, with many fallen, sunken, or broken

gravestones A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a stele or marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. It is traditional for burials in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, among others. In most cases, it has the deceased's name, da ...

and grave vaults; dilapidated or missing gates and fences; sinkholes or animal burrows; and a crumbled office and maintenance building. The cemetery once had a full-time office and maintenance, but as its associated organizations aged and most closed down or moved, its use declined, and the office was abandoned. The office building is now crumbling, and there is no longer any permanent staff. In the late 1980s, a monument company, Sanford B. Epstein, Inc. (sometimes known as Kenilworth) took over management, maintenance, and interments on behalf of the associations, both active and defunct. The management company has done significant work to clean up and secure the location, though much work remains to be done, and individual graves are only repaired when families request the work and pay for it. A brief video of the cemetery is shown in the opening montage for ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster, portraying his difficulties as he tries to balance ...

''.

References

{{Reflist Cemeteries in Bergen County, New Jersey North Arlington, New Jersey

History

Layout

Condition

See also

References