A neglected field of dead trees behind Beth El Congregation is being given new life to commemorate those who have lost theirs. The synagogue is converting this area into a remembrance garden in honor of the victims of the Oct. 7 attacks and the hostages held by Hamas.
The garden will be unveiled to the community during an Oct. 6 dedication ceremony, in which Beth El’s Hebrew school students, club members and congregants will be given an opportunity to explore the garden and write messages on the memorial stones that will litter the area.
This project was made possible through the Janice B. Altman L’dor Vador Fund, a newly-established fund created by the eponymous congregant. Altman created the fund to promote Oct. 7- and Judaism-related educational programs, inspired by the fact that some of the younger people she talked to didn’t know what l’dor vador — from generation to generation — meant.
The Remembrance Garden is the fund’s first venture, and Altman cites Baltimore’s version of the “Empty Shabbat Table” initiative as an inspiration. While Jewish communities the world over set up Shabbat tables with empty seats representing each hostage, the one hosted at Har Sinai-Oheb Shalom Congregation in November 2023 only stood for a short period of time.
“I wanted to do something that was more than one activity, that would be long-lasting — from generation to generation, God willing,” Altman explained. “And I came up with an idea of a permanent area that would provide a place for reflection, thought and healing, and represent the 251 hostages that were taken from us on Oct. 7. There’s none like this, as far as I know, in our area.”
Altman proposed the garden to Beth El leadership in February, with hopes that it would be ready for a public reveal by Mother’s Day. But the project got pushed back as ideas for it changed and developed. The garden having Israeli flags stuck into the ground to represent each of the hostages was always part of the vision, for example, but the flowers planted in the garden were originally meant to be multicolored. As the garden got pushed back, it was decided that only white flowers would be used.
Beth El Congregation worked with Bob Jackson Landscapes, a Reisterstown-based landscaping business, to plan the garden’s layout. The garden will be right by the congregation’s mosaic, which they collaborated on with Art With a Heart in 2023.
The memorial stones that congregants can decorate and write messages on were chosen because of the Jewish tradition of leaving rocks on gravestones to show respect for the dead. This is in part because while flowers left at gravesites quickly wither and decay, memorial rocks can better stand the test of time.
“We hope that people from the community will come and see this space, and decorate a stone so they can feel like they’ve personally done something to memorialize the people we’ve lost,” said Amanda Beitman, Beth El’s director of development.
One of the original plans for the garden was that Beth El’s preschool and religious school students would be tasked with planting the flowers themselves, but this was later scrapped.
“This event will be meaningful in that they’ll participate [by decorating memorial stones], but they won’t get as dirty,” Altman quipped.
Altman added that the garden project remained under wraps until fairly recently, as the first permanent memorial of its kind in the Baltimore area.
“I felt that it was so important for there to be a place where people can walk in and reflect on what was, and hope, hopefully, for a brighter future,” she said.
