JEWISH WORLD

JEWISH WORLD • AUGUST 11-17, 2023 15 tranceway to the Jewish [part of the] cemetery has been refur- bished. We have also secured the grounds from vandalism, which had been occurring.” The work is still ongoing, she said. “We look forward to the continuation of this project.” She added that the Jewish Law Institute would continue to hold memorial services for those bur- ied in the Jewish portion of the cemetery. The services are held in partnership with the North Shore Jewish Center in Port Jef- ferson, which has been doing them for over 30 years, often led by Rabbi Melvyn Lerer, the one- time Jewish chaplain at Pilgrim chiatric hospitals ever to exist in the United States,” it reads. “The cemetery is maintained by the New York State Office of Mental Health with the support of Touro Law Center.” The plaque concludes with two verses from Isaiah (57:1-2): “The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are tak-en away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.” S am Levine, director of Tou- ro Law Centers’ Jewish Law In October 2013, the Touro Law Center partnered with the New York State Office of Men- tal Health to restore the cemetery and identify the graves. The ceremony in June, which had been delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, included a color guard from the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9592. Among those buried there are military veterans and Holocaust survivors, according to Elena B. Langan, dean of the Touro University Ja- cob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, who officiated at the event. “The cemetery has important historical and religious signifi- cance in the community, and the project aspires to restore the fa- cility so that visitors may find it a place of reflection consistent with respect for those who are interred,” Langan said. “Since the inception of the project…, we have been able to clear the grounds of excess brush, vines, and shrubbery. New signage has been installed, and new fencing has been installed, and the en- Psychiatric Center. “We are pleased to be partner- ing with the state and the Office of Mental Health as we unveil the commemorative plaques through- out the cemetery grounds, and we look forward to our continued partnership,” Langan said. A historical marker and plaque at the cemetery’s entrance notes that it was a “potter’s field” for the Central Islip State Hospital, active from the late 19th Century until the hospital closed in 1996. “In the mid-1950s, the hospital, which stretched from Southern State Parkway north to Suffolk Avenue, housed 10,000 patients, making it one of the largest psy- Remembering The Once-Forgotten Touro restores and rededicates Central Islip cemetery By STEWART AIN T he Touro Law Center host- ed a 30-minute ceremony on Friday, June 23, to re- dedicate the Central Islip State Hospital Cemetery adjacent to its south parking lot at 225 Eastview Drive in Central Islip. The school was built next door on the site that once housed the Central Islip Psychiatric Center, which closed its doors in 1996 and was demol- ished two years later. An estimated 5,500 men and women are buried there, all of whom died while either in the care of the Central Islip hospital or two other Suffolk County fa- cilities—Kings Park and Pilgrim State. Their graves were marked with numbered stones rather than names, making it virtually impos- sible for family members to lo- cate where their loved ones were buried. Among the interred are 500 Jewish patients whose graves are located in a separate section. The new marker unveiled at the rededication ceremony of the Central Islip State Hospital Cemetery. The law school leadership was unaware that the cemetery, the only part of the psychiatric center that remained, was in its backyard. ISLAND NEWS continued on page 28 D A V I D B L A I N E P R E S E N T S ASI WIND’s INNER CIRCLE Tickets: AsiWind.com “One of the great magicians of our time.” I S R A E L ’ S B E S T M A G I C I A N