JCAM's Ohabei Shalom Cemetery Chapel in East Boston soon will become the East Boston Immigration Center as part of its joint effort with the Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy (MIRA) Coalition. The JCAM-MIRA Coalition alliance, announced in January, is dedicated to 
enhancing today’s immigrant experience through resources that will be made available at the Ohabei Shalom Chapel, a handsome Victorian treasure built in 1903 that is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
“The utility and accessibility of this space, the fact that its identity and location is rooted in, and celebrates, the immigrant experience makes this partnership all the more appropriate and beneficial for all parties,” said Eva Millona, Executive Director of the MIRA Coalition.
MIRA will use the chapel for training and informational sessions in its “Citizenship for New Americans” and “English for New Bostonians” programs. It also plans for a business and education resource center to hold small group sessions and one-on-one meetings.
The JCAM Charitable Foundation has been campaigning to preserve the Chapel, to document and tell the story of Jewish immigration in greater Boston and to provide a valuable resource to the new immigrant communities who today settle in these same neighborhoods.
For more information, please call JCAM at 617-244-6509 and see the section here on this Web site.
A rare, pristine copy of The Children’s Haggadah, published in Germany in 1933 is now in the hands of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum having been discovered among sacred materials that were dropped at JCAM’s community Genizah. JCAM’s Cantor Alan Kritz spotted the Haggadah in the materials left for sacred burial. After recognizing the importance of this publication, particularly in light of the Holocaust, he contacted the director of the library at the Museum to donate it. The video below tells the awesome story. Since this video was posted in April of 2014, another copy was donated by someone in Denmark.
JCAM collects and stores worn and unusable sacred materials for the Greater Boston Jewish community at its Genizah located at the Baker Street Cemeteries in West Roxbury until its annual book burial. Cantor Kritz is JCAM’s Assistant Director of Field Services. He helps in facilitating this effort. Please feel free to contact the JCAM office regarding specific procedures for preparing and dropping off materials at the Genizah.
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One of JCAM’s most recent acquisitions is the Netherlands Cemetery in Melrose, established by Dutch Jews. The cemetery dates to 1860. It has been neglected for years, and many of the headstones have been toppled and broken. JCAM has recently brought in its craftsmen to raise and repair these monuments. (Click here to see the full story and Before/After photos.) In the spring of 2015 a complete power washing of all the headstones and markers is scheduled. The cemetery is in desperate need of attention. Based on availability of funds we hope to begin masonry work on the rear retaining walls, stairs and railings of the cemetery. If you’d like to make a donation toward the Netherlands Cemetery restoration project, please go to our Donation page.
Over the last two years, JCAM has been restoring and repairing gates, fences and walls at several Woburn, MA cemeteries. See our slide show of before and after picutres!
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