PITTSGROVE TOWNSHIP — Adiel Levin used to visit Salem County when he was a kid but never really considered the historic impact of his ancestors.
It wasn’t until he was inside the Alliance Colony Chapel on Sunday that he saw some of his family’s history. There was a 19th-century asparagus cutter on display that would have been used by Levin’s great grandfather.
“I didn’t know that. That was quite astonishing to see,” said Levin, 36, who lives in Palmyra, Burlington County.
Levin brought to the chapel four generations of his family, ranging from his 100-year-old grandmother, Fay Helig-Levin, who lived this history, to Levin’s 9-year-old son, Asa Levin-Levoit, to see the work of Stockton University’s Alliance Heritage Center come to life.
They were among the 125 or so people, many of them with ancestors who lived in the first successful Jewish agricultural community in the United States, who visited the Alliance Colony site for Stockton’s celebration of the refurbishment of the chapel.
“The community is just so interested and supportive, which is the most rewarding thing when you see someone and they are just very thankful the story is getting out there,” said Patty Chappine, an adjunct professor at Stockton, a Rudnick Fellow and the assistant director of the Alliance Heritage Center.
The chapel, adjacent to Alliance Cemetery, where mostly Jewish people are buried, was dedicated in 1927 in the Norma section of Pittsgrove Township in Salem County. The colony, which formed in 1882, spanned 1,150 acres and was started by 43 Jewish families fleeing religious persecution from Russia and Eastern Europe.
Thanks to a $100,000 Mellon Foundation grant, the Alliance Heritage Center was able to begin a project that lasted more than two years documenting, creating literature and gathering artifacts to be displayed in the chapel. More than 20 Stockton interns spent hundreds of hours going through the center’s records on the colony for the displays, both physical and those accessed digitally through QR codes around the chapel.
“There’s a lot of interesting history that shouldn’t be forgotten right here about Alliance, right here about Jewish farming, right here about South Jersey farming, and we’re trying our best to preserve it to tell a story,” said Tom Kinsella, director of the Alliance Heritage Center.
Alliance Community Reboot (ACRe), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that seeks to preserve and rebuild the Jewish farm-based community in South Jersey, had also done work on the property, including the painting of a mural on a nearby building.
The chapel was open Sunday but will largely remain closed to the public. It’s owned by the Chevra Kadisha Association, which runs the cemetery and will open the chapel upon request, especially for local high schools and colleges that wish to bring students for an educational trip.
“We wanted to make sure we’re always reaching out to the community, and this site is so very important to the history (of Pittsgrove Township) that we felt we needed to get a grant and needed to fix this up like it was a museum,” Chappine said.
Connecting to the past
Jay Greenblatt, a retired attorney, moved back to Pittsgrove Township about 45 years ago. His father was born here, and Greenblatt was in search of his roots.
In 1982, a 100-year celebration was held at the colony, and a small collection of historic photos, many of which belonged to Greenblatt, were placed in chapel.
Greenblatt’s interest in the colony’s history led him to Kinsella, who formed the Alliance Heritage Center in 2019. Though not a physical center, it holds a digital collection of the colony’s history.
“It’s a slice of Americana, it’s a slice of American history,” Greenblatt told the crowd. “This flame is starting to really, really burn brightly, and it makes me so happy and I just feel it’s all been worth it for 45 years.”
State Sen. Michael Testa’s mother’s family is from Pittsgrove Township. Many of his ancestors are buried in the Alliance Cemetery and were Holocaust survivors, he told the crowd.
“It was taught to me at such a young age to honor your heritage,” Testa said. “I remember coming here as a young boy. I had a stone driveway, and I remember getting stones to put on all of the headstone of my family members and friends.
“That’s part of heritage and what it is we do. And we leave that sign as a sign of remembrance, a sign of honor, a sign or love. And that’s what this is. It’s a passion project. It’s a passion of love.”
Levin’s story centered around that asparagus cutter he showed his son Sunday.
“One of (his grandmother’s) stories from childhood was that her father (Isaac Helig), who that (asparagus cutter) belonged to, gave all the kids a plot of land to grow what they wanted and they could sell it and keep the proceeds for themselves,” Levin said. “She grew asparagus because asparagus likes the sandy soil down here. … She was into clothing in her youth and became a shopkeeper, so what she used her money for was dresses. That was the profession she ended up going into.”
Levin didn’t realize this was happening until about a week ago. It was important for him to bring his grandmother back here so she could see the artifacts and for his son to learn.
“I wanted to bring my son here because for kids, the moment before they’re born, history doesn’t exist to them,” Levin said, “so I wanted to connect him a little bit to his past and show him he has a history here.”
Contact John Russo: 609-272-7184
jrusso@pressofac.com
X: @ACPress_Russo
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