Last July, Jim Gribble drove by the Sharey Zedek Cemetery in Hurley, on Wisconsin’s border with Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and noticed a broken fence. On further inspection, he saw that many of the gravestones had sunk and needed new footings. The cemetery’s pillars also needed new plaster.
He spoke with cemetery sexton Larry Rovelsky. Bad news: there was no money left for maintenance. So Gribble and the two other descendents of Hurley/Ironwood’s Jewish community organized a meeting with dispersed descendents of the community and began a campaign to restore the cemetery.
Having raised $12,000, the cemetery committee now estimates that it needs another $8,000 for repairs and future maintenance. So they’re tying to sell an item of value that they no longer need — a Torah scroll.
The scroll (and a Megillat Esther, a scroll of Esther, which is also for sale) came from the Sharey Zedek Synagogue, which was founded in 1892 and disbanded in the 1940s, according to Andrew Muchin, former director of the Small Jewish Communities Project of the Wisconsin Society for Jewish Learning.
After 1940, the remaining Jews of Hurley prayed with the Ironwood community, which gathered in a Finnish social hall. When that hall closed, the synagogue’s religious items were left behind.
In 2004, some items — including a Torah scroll — were found in a local antique store. The great-grandson of Sharey Zedek’s first rabbi purchased the Torah and created a display case, which is now located in the Iron County Historical Society.
A second Torah scroll was located recently in the warehouse of a Jewish-owned business. A scribe in Chicago estimated that, after about $3,000 of work required to make it kosher, the scroll might be worth $10,000-$15,000, Gribble said.
By selling the Torah scroll, Gribble and other descendents hope to solve two issues at once — to raise funds that will help them honor the memory of their family members who are buried in Hurley and to find a nice home for their community’s Torah scroll.
“Hopefully we can find someone who needs it,” Gribble said.
For information on purchasing the scroll, contact Gribble or Larry Rovelsky at abelmans@chartermi.net.
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