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When the first Jewish patient died on Rabbi Melvyn Lerer’s watch as chaplain at the Central Islip State Hospital in 1976, he was devastated. There was no tahara (preparation of the body for …
In the cemetery of the now-defunct Central Islip Psychiatric Center, markers for the interred lack names. A nearby Jewish law school is helping relatives identify loved ones
The Jewish cemetery is all that remains of the Central Islip Psychiatric Center, which was opened in 1889.
An agreement between a nearby Jewish school of law and the state will help families identify the graves of loved ones.