A tractor that entered the Jewish cemetery in Brzesko, Poland, as part of work to renovate a collapsed wall, drove over graves, smashed gravestones, and dug directly into graves without halachic supervision, Meir Bulka of the organization J-nerations told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
J-nerations works on several fronts to preserve Jewish heritage sites in the Diaspora, especially grave sites and cemeteries.
Bulka told the Post that the Brzesko cemetery is owned by the Jewish Religious Community of Krakow, which is therefore responsible for its maintenance. A few weeks ago, he said the Jewish Religious Community of Krakow was ordered to repair the cemetery fence because it was "very old and in poor condition."
"They sent a tractor there without giving it instructions to keep the cemetery intact and without supervising the workers," he said.
"The tractor entered through the main entrance and to get to the work area, it broke many tombstones on the way."
As a result of the work, fragments of human bones were scattered throughout the area, he said.
Bulka provided the Post with pictures from the scene, which show a tractor next to several dug-up graves and fallen gravestones, as well as what appears to be bone fragments.
Bulka noted that among those buried in the Brzesko cemetery are Rabbi Aryeh Leib Lipschitz (Aryeh Dvei Ila'i); his son, Rabbi Meshulam Zalman Yehonatan; Rabbi Pinchas Templer of Dembitz-Briegel; Rabbi Pinchas Templer, son of Rabbi Mattityahu; Rabbi Menashe, son of Rabbi Menachem or Nachum Tzvi; and Rabbi Tuvia, son of Rabbi Meshulam Zalman.
Jewish cemetery restoration work typically involves rabbinic oversight
Jewish cemetery restoration work in Poland is generally carried out with rabbinic oversight to ensure compliance with Jewish religious law.
The Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe is one of the principal rabbinic bodies involved in providing such guidance and oversight.
According to the Center for Jewish Art, the cemetery in Brzesko was established in the early 1800s, and the last person to be buried there was in 1960. Alongside the gravestones, there are two ohels.
The Center for Art also lists the owner of the cemetery as the Jewish Religious Community of Krakow.
The Post reached out to the President of the Jewish Religious Community of Krakow, the Chief Rabbi of Poland, and Anna Brzyska, who runs the "Restoring the memory of the Jewish community of Brzesko" page, for comment.