The Jewish Diaspora has reacted to monumental moments in history with reengagement various ways. In a post-Oct. 7 world, we are certainly witnessing what the Jewish Federations of North America report as an “explosion in Jewish belonging and communal participation” — a silver lining during a year that was one of the darkest times for Israel and global Jewry since the Holocaust.

Over the past year, we have heard many clarion calls from Jewish thought leaders — clergy, philosophers, columnists — to look inward. Some are prompting us to rediscover and contemplate our Jewish inheritance. Rabbi Diana Fersko of Manhattan’s Village Temple proclaimed that engaging in Jewish learning has historically served as our “tools of survival and community.” Other Jewish leaders have shed sobering light on the need for our younger generation to be better equipped with knowledge of history in order to be in a better position to confront today’s most pressing challenges on college campuses.

And Jewish youth are re-engaging in new ways. Mount Hebron Cemetery in Queens, N.Y., one of the largest and most historic Jewish cemeteries in the New York metropolitan area, established an internship program with Queens College. The program allows students to tangibly engage with history through exploration of the grounds and research to unearth the stories of those buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery. They comb through an exhaustive digital archive in their hunt for rich and meaningful anecdotes. Not only do we witness their palpable excitement firsthand as they explore Jewish history related to our city, state, country and global community, but we hear direct feedback detailing how the knowledge gained while on cemetery grounds has served as a catapult for their Jewish communal engagement on campus and in their communities.

While a cemetery may not be one’s first choice or first thought for a place to reengage Jewishly, such a setting — both the grounds and digital archives — offer an often-overlooked treasure trove of Jewish inspiration.

Our cemeteries, museums, cultural centers and synagogues all offer opportunities to explore the challenges that our ancestors faced throughout history, but we are sometimes guilty of focusing on remembrance without pondering what we can actually glean from it. Gaining historical context can fuel deeper Jewish communal engagement, particularly in an era where many of us are experiencing vulnerability for the first time in the aftermath of Oct. 7. There are themes and lessons in the stories of those who came before us still relevant to issues we are facing today. 

In a cemetery like Mount Hebron, we may meet a Jewish titan of industry who dealt with antisemitism in a unique way decades ago, or a Holocaust survivor with a poignant message of how to compartmentalize hate. We may encounter a Jewish elected official who approached interfaith affairs in ways that can be applied in today’s fractured world, or a story about a Jewish veteran from World War II that can help contextualize the just nature of Israel’s ongoing efforts to root out terror from its borders.

Much darkness has hovered over American Jewry recently; but out of this darkness, we have witnessed how global Jewry and Israelis have leaned into our history. To fully heed the call for Jewish reengagement through history in this moment warrants a communal philanthropy portfolio more robustly inclusive of non-traditional legacy organizations — like cemeteries — that can help bring the learnings of our history to the present.

Adam Ginsberg is the president of Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, N.Y., which has served the Jewish community since 1909. He is also the president of the Legacy Foundation, 501(c)(3) organization providing educational and cultural programs supporting the work of Mount Hebron Cemetery.