Lakewood, NJ – In April, the state Department of Environmental Protection sent a sternly worded letter to a local rabbi, ordering him to remove thousands of bags of sacred material buried under a sandy lot off Vermont Avenue, ( reported on VIN News). The agency called the site “small with inadequate buffers,” whose close proximity to water wells “poses a threat to the usability of these wells.”
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DEP officials gave the rabbi 30 days to clean up the site. That window closed Wednesday absent any cleanup, after the DEP backed off the original time frame to find an appropriate solid waste facility. Instead of 30 days, state officials now say another location should be found “soon.”
“We’ve been exercising discretion because of the religious nature of the materials buried,” DEP Spokesman Lawrence Hajna said in an e-mail. “Throughout we’ve tried to be sensitive to the situation, but there will come a point when the materials will have to be moved.”
Yet for neighbors and other people who only see an illegal dump, patience is running thin, especially for the purported owner of the land who was clueless to the burial project.
“I want them to clean it up so I can sell the (expletive) thing and get out of New Jersey,” said Diane Fitzgerald of Long Island, the daughter of Grace Fitzgerald, who township officials say owns the land. “This is ridiculous what this man gets away with.”
Grace Fitzgerald, 82, has paid taxes on the property since the mid-1980s, paying $403.83 in 2009, according to her tax bill. Unknown to her, the lot was nonetheless sold three times since June 2008, with Yosaif and Zeldy Oppen of Lakewood involved as either the buyers or sellers. On March 1, the Oppens donated the land to the rabbi, Chaim Abadi, who then used it to bury holy items during Passover that, by religious law, could not be burned or discarded as common garbage.
Even more shocking to Fitzgerald was when, on April 15, she received a violation notice from Lakewood ordering her to clean up the dump site. That violation is on hold while Abadi works with DEP officials to resolve the matter.
Repeated calls to Abadi for comment were not returned, though, according to DEP officials, he delayed a cleanup after another rabbi, Shlomo Gissinger, advised him to leave the materials in place. Attempts to reach Gissinger for comment were also unsuccessful.
Who is the rightful owner of the site? That is a truth enmeshed in a tangle of seemingly disjointed deed transfers. However, the ownership lineage, according to a series of wills, appears to end, in part, with Grace Fitzgerald. Her husband, John Fitzgerald, was left a share of the property by his aunt, Anne Rosenfeld, who was left the property by her late husband, David Rosenfeld. When John died in 1989, all his land went to Grace. Other shares went to the children of Anne Rosenfeld’s niece.
The original deed is shared by David Rosenfeld and his father Morris. It is unclear whether Morris’ other son, Saul Field, has any claim to the property.
Oppen, however, claims Anne Rosenfeld never had a right to pass on the property of her late husband, David, because of a provision in an archaic law called Dower and Curtesy, in which, under certain circumstances, a surviving spouse may not be able to sell or convey property of the deceased spouse. David Rosenfeld died in 1979, the same year Dower and Curtesy was abolished in New Jersey.
“Fitzgerald is not the owner, unbeknownst to her — regardless of who’s paying taxes,” Oppen said.
Yet two property law attorneys questioned such an outdated law, especially when measured against the contractual power of a will.
“That was basically done away with,” said Ronald Gasiorowski, an attorney who practices in Red Bank.
Grace Fitzgerald has since hired Gasiorowski as she considers how to pursue legal action, according to her daughter, Diane.
Another attorney, not involved in the dispute, said he “can’t imagine” anyone invoking Dower and Curtesy, having never seen it raised in 15 years of practicing estate law.
“You don’t see it coming up,” said Joel Davies, an attorney who practices in Toms River. “Especially when quitclaim deeds come along because you’re not sure who owns it (the property).”
How exactly does buried paper pose a threat to the usability of wells? It is not like he is burying sotah klaf…
Is this a novel or real life?
Maybe Senator Singer should get involved . The Roshei Yeshiva rely on his council for many delicate jewish causes . He recently chaired a commission on Kovod Hames , and is known to be a staunch supporter of Torah values . He specifically pays R Menashe Miller to be his aide to have a better understanding of the Kehilla.
was this sheimos buried legally? it looks like the holy seforim were put into plastic bags and dumped
To put an end to the misconception and slander here are a few unknown facts: the shaimos was buried legally by the rabbis and his associates. They were issued a permit prior to the burial. The supposed “owners” of the property who may seem to be upstanding citizens given the fact that they have hired an attorney and have been quoted numerous times, are in fact overzealous anti-religious bigots who have had no interest in selling the property up until this episode transpired. In addition readers must realize that this is not “another jewish debacle” rather on the contrary. This is a case were the religious law abiding jew tried to operate a business in accordance with both jewish and non jewish laws alike and got sorely mistreated by the government and got judged by his fellow jews. I wish rabbi abadi a quick resolution and continued success in all that he endeavors.
No, I do not want this in my backyard.
I have a science background and I am not an expert but the danger from this is much less than commercial or even routine garden work. Imagine real risk when you have a redneck changing his own oil (you don’t really think they recycle the oil).
Once and for all, lets address the real “shaimos” problem by first limiting the amount of papers and seforim that get stuffed into the bags collected as shaimos. From what I’ve seen, a very large percentage of this “stuff” is not real shaimos but simply papers, seforim without the name of hashem, flyers and other paper dropped off at the shuls almost eruv shabbos and people are too lazy to sort out from real shaimos etc.
Once we reduce the amount of shamos then we can decide whether they should be buried in a cemetary or legally buried in a landfill somewhere and not dumped like the case here.
this story is sooo random. who is the real owner here? also where is the permit and who issued it? why can’t abadi call rabbi tendler and purchase a plot or two and call it a day?
I can NOT believe that in 2010 there can be a property that no one knows who owns it. Clearly, somebody didn’t use Madison Title. Either way R’ Chaim Abadi is a big tzaddik & i would never be chished him for doing anything wrong. Hershel for Mayor.
This is such a chillul hashem!! What is this, a hefker country where you just do whatever you want on property that’s not yours? He had the obligation of doing a title search on the property to make sure that no one else had title to it, which they did, and now he’s damaged another persons land, which he may have cleaned up if not for another rabbi telling him not to touch anything! wow!
Even if it was his land, he had the obligation of getting this cleared with permits, which he didn’t do but lied about!
This land needs to be cleaned up, and m’din torah he needs to do all of the cleaning!