“To come to the U.S. and create this amazing life where everyone felt safe and secure and able to be who they were, that was an incredible thing coming from Eastern Europe,” Ms. Perle, a hospice medical social worker, said. “For this to have happened where my family has been laid to rest was just heartbreaking. These are unconscionable acts.”
She said that she had reached out to thank Mr. El-Messidi after reading about the effort and that she had “come to understand more about our shared humanity.”
Mr. El-Messidi, who lives in Philadelphia, walked through the vandalized Mount Carmel Jewish Cemetery on Sunday. He said he saw people huddled over the gravestones, weeping.
“We’re in a very different time in the U.S. when people cannot even rest in peace after they pass away,” he said, “where people have to be worried about their ancestors’ graves.”
