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We live in the times of Jewish life revival. One of its important components is the memory of the past. There is no future without the past.

There is an old Jewish cemetery in the outskirts of Shepetovka town. For 2000 years the saints were buried there. The believers from all over the world used to come here to honor them.

The cemetery is decaying. There is grass on the graves, the names on the gravestones are unreadable. The fence is falling down. The relatives of the buried left for Israel, USA, Germany...

There is a man known to everyone in the town. His name is Mikhail Ilich Shuster. He always donates to the town Jewish community and shares all its troubles.

Mikhail Shuster initiated measures to put the cemetery in order. He allotted funds, equipment and workers. The work lasted for two months. When repairs were under way it came out that local citizens dug a big hole under the wall and it fell down. Moreover, the fence was damaged too. Representatives of the Jewish community appealed to the local police to calm down the hooligans but until now no measures have been taken.

By August 1,the work was finished. The fence was repaired, cemetery cleaned and tsadiks' graves restored. At noon, the Jewish community held a public prayer. There were guests from Khmelnitsky headed by Mikhail Lerman, Chairman of the Khmelnitsky oblast community and a member of the Council of Regions of the Jewish Confederation.

At 9p.m. of the same day hasids from Israel came to the grave of tsadik Mikhail Shapiro to pay a tribute to this great righteous man ... and saw the acts of horrible vandalism - the monument was destroyed, the fence around his grave was smashed. Other six gravestones were also damaged.

During the war even the fascists had not touched these monuments but they were destroyed on August 1, 2001.

The community appealed to the Chairman of the Town Council, Head of the local security service, police and attorney office.

Mikhail Shuster nominated a reward for catching the criminals. On August 3, the criminals were arrested. For the sake of investigation we shall not mention their names. One of them is 17. This means that this underage may escape the just punishment.

"Jewish Meridian" will watch the further events.

Mila Baich
Zinoviy Blinder,
Chairman of Shepetovka Jewish Community.
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