"Thirty Jewish gravestone are lying there, lonely, on a hill ... in Serock, Poland," Lee Seeman told the Great Neck Record. That was all she had to hear; then the actual picture deepened her resolve to "save" this cemetery. As a longtime member of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, Ms. Seeman has the ability to make it all happen, to see a restoration and preservation of this ancient Jewish cemetery in a town where Congressman Gary Ackerman's family has roots ... and a town where Jews no longer live.

Ms. Seeman, who professionally serves as a councilwoman for the Town of North Hempstead (representing southern Great Neck and part of New Hyde Park), was appointed to the Commission in 1995 by President Bill Clinton and was reappointed by President George W. Bush. Over the years she has worked tirelessly, on her own time, with her own funds, to restore many cemeteries and religious sites in Europe. Her successful projects to date include two completed monuments, one in Estonia and the other in Wyszkov, Poland.

Then, when Ms. Seeman one day asked her good friend, federal Congressman Gary Ackerman where his family came from, and he told her Serock Poland, she decided to do a search. "I'm always searching," she said. This search turned up this falling-down Jewish cemetery where one gravestone goes back to the year 1524. That gravestone reads: "Here our Rabbi the dead ... A man fearful of God ... our Rabbi and teacher Menachem ... son of our Rabbi and teacher YEHUDA KATZ ... died at a good/ripe old age on 5 Tishrei 5285 ... (Friday, September 12, 1524)"

The stones are generally difficult, if not impossible, to read, and all 30 now lie on a small hill near the cemetery. "Jewish cemetery restoration is often all that is left of Jewish American heritage with ancestral ties to Eastern Europe and Central Europe," Ms. Seeman explained.

Ms. Seeman went on to further explain that Jews have lived in Serock, Poland for hundreds of years. Poland was long the home for a large portion of the world's Jewish population, and after World War II almost half of Serock's population was Jewish. She said that after the German invasion of Poland in 1939, it was "the end of nearly a millennium of Polish Jewry."

Congressman Ackerman, whose mother was born in Serock, where other family members are buried, told the Record, "I am honored that Lee is working on the cemetery located in the town where my mother was born, and all of my grandparents lived. Hopefully, Lee will be successful in her efforts for this critical project. The work undertaken by Lee and the commission is extremely important. It helps maintain the memory of the past. It provides dignity and respect to those individuals who have passed on. It provides a physical reminder of the people who resided in particular communities and shows that somebody is thinking of them. In some areas, such as Serock, where Jews no longer reside, their work shows that Jewish populations once existed prior to the Holocaust. I commend Lee for undertaking this important project and urge all who would like to assist her to do so in whatever way that may be appropriate."

Ms. Seeman plans to travel to Serock, Poland when the restoration is complete. Her hope is that Gary Ackerman will attend with her.

To help Lee Seeman and the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad restore the dignity of this Jewish cemetery, Ms. Seeman is seeking donations to stabilize the fencing, return the stones to the cemetery (hopefully in a monument), and maintain perpetual care, if possible. Ms. Seeman may be reached at 487-1347.

The Commission was established by the U.S. Congress to ensure the preservation and protection of significant historic sites in 22 central and eastern European countries, to include Jewish synagogues, cemeteries and Holocaust sites. For more information about the Commission log onto: www.heritageabroad.gov