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Dear Cz-ers

The Gidonim completed their summer 2015 work in the Jewish cemetery of Czestochowa with a moving ceremony at the cemetery, near the mass graves. Dani Kahn blew the Shofar, they lit candles in memory of all those who were buried in the cemetery and our families who were murdered in the Holocaust, They said the “El Male Rachamim” “and “Kaddish” and the students read some chapters about the history of the Jewish community of Czestochowa and the Gidonim activity.

Before the start of the ceremony, each student went to visit a grave that he/she had felt particularly connected to during their work, lit a memorial candle beside and read a personal letter they had received from their teachers.

The work this year has been particularly difficult. The plots we reached were covered with tangled vegetation that it was necessary to clean if you want to start to locate the tombstones. Most of the tombstones were broken, some upside down, which required great physical effort to view the headstone to be able to document, in many cases the letters of the Mazeva was covered with earth and only after excavation it was possible to expose and document it. There were cases that in order to get the name it was necessary to build a puzzle from small fragments of stone from the tombstone, but as Dani Kahn said: “we are not willing to give up in any situation if we can save a memory of a soul in Israel.”

Despite all the difficulties the Gidonim mapped this year approximately 600 tombstones and after they type the data and edit the photos I will post the names and all the new data will be uploaded to the school/Gidonim website.

The work is not over and with your help the Gidonim will complete the mapping work in the summer of 2016.

On your behalf I want to thank the Reut high school from Jerusalem, Dina and Dani who lead the project year after year and to all the members of summer 2015 delegation: Noa, Shimon, Chen, Ayelet, Gili, Noam, Shmuel, David, Guy, Yoav, Gilad, Omer, Dudi, Shmuel, Ro’ee and Noa.

Thank you very much ! 
We are blessed that we we have youth like you.

Your Sincerely,

Alon Goldman, 
Chairman – The Association of Czestochowa Jews in Israel
Vice President – The World Society of Czestochowa Jews and their Descendants