A group of American tourists participated Sunday in a memorial event held at the Sambusky “Paupers’ Cemetery” on Mount Zion, marking the anniversary of the passing of the biblical prophet, Moses on the 7th day of the Hebrew month of Adar. The delegation, organized by the Father’s House Educational Foundation, brought American Christians to the site both to mark the death of the biblical figure, as well as to help refurbish the cemetery, vandalized for years by local Arabs. Moshe Bronstein, who led the tour of Sambusky, described the symbolic importance of the visit. "We are standing here on a redeeming field... a Jewish holy cemetery that has been desecrated for so many years, first by the Jordanians, right now by the local Arabs. We can here to be a part of redeeming this place, cleaning this place. And this group's mission is to join with the State of Israel, to be here in Jerusalem, and to stand here with their heart with the people of Israel." The effort to repair the cemetery comes in the midst of a rash of cemetery desecrations in the US, where Jewish tombstones have been overturned and broken. "In America when we hear the news about the anti-Semitism, about the [tombstone] destructions, it's heartbreaking to most Americans,” said John Turner, a resident of Glen Rose, Texas. “It's not what we're about. Then when we come here to be a part of this, we realize that we want to be a part of cleaning, we want to be a part of renewing, we want to be a part of remembering the lives of those that were lost in such a tragic way so many years ago." "We are grateful for the opportunity to be able to express our love, our concern, and our sense of one with you,” said John’s wife, Roxie Turner. “Thank you for sharing this time that [the anniversary of Moses' death] that I know is very important and sacred.”
