In a move meant to bring "closure," members of the Highland Park Conservative Temple Congregation Anshe Emeth held a solemn ceremony to bury sacred items, including hundreds of prayer books, that were heavily damaged last year in a fire.

The ceremony took place Sept. 16 at the Congregation Anshe Emeth Cemetery in East Brunswick. About 70 temple members gathered to bury some 250 prayer books, 250 volumes of Torah, six Torah covers, the curtain from the ark where the Torah scrolls were stored, and six pieces of a tapestry from the sanctuary destroyed in the Aug. 24, 2006, fire.

Jewish law requires that objects or texts containing the Hebrew name of God that are no longer useable be buried in a place where they will not be destroyed. It is also traditional to bury other sacred objects in such a manner.

"The mood was one both of sorrow and joy," said Carey Glass, chair of the committee that oversaw the collection and burial of the sacred items. "Obviously we are sorry we had to bury these items, but also there was an understanding this was a new beginning for us. This was closure to the fire."

The objects were placed in one double grave in an area separate from the rest of the cemetery. Glass said additional ritual items will be added over time as they become worn.

"It was a very important moment for us," said Rabbi Eliot Malomet. "It reminded people of what we do as Jews. We don't shred things. We don't destroy things. We don't throw them in the garbage. We have reverence for these objects. They played a role in our lives. We connected with these things way beyond the objects themselves. They represented the people we loved, our love for tradition."

Forty boxes of ruined prayer books that were not included in the ceremony will be buried individually with members of the congregation in accordance with tradition, according to Linda Diamond, chair of the temple rebuilding committee.

"It is considered an honor for a holy person to be buried with such a holy object," explained Diamond. "It is done to honor the person."

The destroyed tapestry was about 30 years old and was designed for the synagogue by renowned Judaica artist Mordechai Rosenstein.

"Temple members of many generations worked on it, adding their own needlepoint," said Diamond. "That it was destroyed was very tragic to us and we felt pieces should also be symbolically buried."

The nine-hour fire incinerated the synagogue auditorium, caused the collapse of part of the nearby sanctuary floor, and caused extensive smoke and water damage throughout the building.

Also destroyed in the blaze was the synagogue's geniza, a storeroom for worn-out sacred texts.

On July 6 and 7, the temple, since merged with Congregation Anshe Emeth of South River, moved back into its offices and held its first religious services in the relatively undamaged half of the synagogue, which had been cleaned, painted, and repaired.

Plans to refurbish other parts of the building, particularly its sanctuary and auditorium, continue to move along; an agreement on the final designs is expected to be reached shortly between the congregation and its architect, Callori Architects of Leonia.

Diamond said the burial ceremony was held Sept. 16 because the date fell during the Ten Days of Awe, the period of introspection between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

"We also thought it was very significant that we buried these objects in the cemetery that belonged to the congregation we merged with," said Diamond. "It symbolized the coming together of these two congregations."

The burial ceremony was conducted by Malomet and Rabbi Yakov Hilsenrath, the Highland Park temple's rabbi emeritus.

Malomet said he himself "felt pain" as he placed the parohet, or ark curtain, in the grave.

"I thought about how prominent opening and closing the ark was, how prominent it had been on holidays for everyone," he said. "It was a very deeply meaningful ceremony that I think touched a lot of people. We all understood it was a marker of time for all of us."