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106 LUBOML
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ing matches often broke out, which might even
lead to violence. In general, the permit for burial
or putting up a monument was given free, or a
symbolic fee was charged.
One of the most important tasks for which the
community council deserves great credit was the
maintenance and security provided for the cemetery.
In Luboml there were two cemeteries for
Jews. The older one, in the center of the town, had
been closed for many years; the one then being
utilized was about three miles from town.
There used to be a nice Jewish custom that
from the first half of the month of Nissan until
Passover eve, and during the entire month of
Elulin addition to personal memorial dayspeople
went to the cemetery to spend private
moments with the souls of the departed. It was a
kind of personal religious observance full of emotion,
mysticism, and holiness.
One revered grave in the old cemetery was
that of a tzadik [righteous person] of previous
generations, R. Moyshe Maneles, a forebear of our
family, and the Bargrum and Getman families, on
the side of the three sisters who were the grandmothers
of the families. There was a small struc-
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Sewing course held in the Katz family's Victoria Hotel in the early 1930's.
lure over the grave called the "tabernacle" [ohel],
and next to it we used to gather, pray, and ask for
heavenly mercy.
Non-Jews lived in the vicinity of the cemeteries.
They made fun of the sentiments of the Jews
and desecrated the honor of the dead. They always
were trying to turn the area into a no-man's
land and to use it for pasture. No security arrangements
helped because it was a very large area,
unfenced and open on all sides. A lack of funds
made it impossible to engage a full-time guard. So
the community council's good efforts to guard
and supervise the cemetery are worthy of praise.
In 1930, both cemeteries were fenced off with
heavy wire fencing, nearly eight feet high, on
strong wooden bases. The length of the fence was
several thousand yards, and because the expense
of erecting the fences was very high, it took
several years to complete the task. It was done in
stages. When the fence was finally up, the situation
was rectified, since the place was now closed
off and more dignified,
Note that the authorities considered the old
cemetery an historical site. The reason was that
within its boundaries stood a number of huge
trees that experts believed to be more than 1,000