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IN-DEPTH FEATURES
Part II
For two thousand years, it has the dream and hope of many
individuals to be buried in Jerusalem. This is a report of
the situation today.
When Israel took control of all Yerushalayim and regained the
West Bank in 1967, burial on Har Hazeisim once again became
feasible. Today, the Perushim and Sephardic Chevra Kadishas
still bury on Har Hazeisim, while the others primarily bury
on Har Hamenuchos.
The Chevra Kadishas hold the key to much of Jerusalem's
history. Records existed for centuries of all the burials
that took place on Har Hazeisim. The ancient records were
destroyed and/or lost, but over the years, the Perushim
painstakingly collected every scrap of information that they
could, to try to reconstruct the information about who was
buried where, and recorded it on microfiche. They were
largely successful.
When Israel gained possession of Har Hazeisim after the Six
Day War, Perushim were ready to rehabilitate the cemetery and
the were able to identify many grave plots. However, due to
the large cost, and also constant sabotage by Arab hoodlums,
the work done has been minimal.
In the process of restoring all the records, Perushim also
created a special computer program where they catalogued the
information they had gathered. Their records contain
fascinating and often detailed information about the
niftorim. Whereas the other Chevra Kadishas primarily
keep only basic information about those buried in their
plots, Perushim record extensive information including what
was the individual's parnossa, what city he heralded
from, whether he was a Cohen, Levi or Yisroel, whether he was
single, a chosson, or divorced at the time of death,
and other such information. Many people have used their
records to trace family lineage and connections generations
back.
Rav Gelbstein, head of the Perushim Chevra Kadisha, relates
how a Russian immigrant approached him 15 years ago asking
about her grandfather who, the family traditions said, had
donated buildings and built 16 wells in Jerusalem. The Chevra
Kadisha was able to locate the grandfather's grave and the
computer program related many details of the man's
history.
The Russian woman was thrilled when Rav Gelbstein brought her
to the shul in Schunat Hakerem which had been built by
her grandfather and was still named after him. The rov of
Hakerem was moved when he heard how the builder's
granddaughter had sought out her grandfather, and he invited
the woman to a special seuda in honor of the
grandfather. As a result of this event the woman and her son
became closer to Judaism, and the son even wrote a book about
his grandfather.
"We basically write everything down that we know about a
person because we don't know what will be important. We even
write down variations of the person's name so we can always
trace him if we have to find out more," Rav Gelbstein says.
He says he has witnessed many times family members finding
each other because one went to look for an ancestor's
grave.
A Modern Link
Another astonishing case where the Chevra Kadisha records led
to a family reunion involved a Jew from abroad who one year
wanted to visit his grandfather's grave in Jerusalem. The man
only knew that his grandfather was called Keidan because he
was from that town. After studying the records, Rav Gelbstein
discovered the grandfather's grave. The man restored the
monument over his grandfather's grave, and began to visit the
site on his yearly trip to Israel.
Then one day Rav Gelbstein was contacted by a prominent
accountant in Israel called Schmerling. The man wanted to
visit his grandfather's grave and didn't know where it was.
Among the little information he was able to provide was that
his grandfather was from the town of Keidan.
After integrating the information, Rav Gelbstein realized
that Schmerling was also a descendant of the same Jew from
Keidan. When he informed him that cousins from abroad
regularly visit the grandfather's grave, Schmerling was
dumbfounded, since he was unaware that his grandfather had
any descendants who lived abroad.
The two descendants got in touch and then they found out
their grandfather's unusual history: He had wanted to move to
Israel but his wife refused. The couple divorced. The
grandfather came to Israel, married a second wife and had
children. The descendants of the first wife were unaware of
the existence of children from the second wife, and vice
versa.
The two families met and held a family meeting in Jerusalem,
published a booklet about their family line, and thanked the
Perushim Chevra Kadisha for connecting them.
Family Affairs
Part of the extreme devotion demonstrated by the Chevra
Kadishas in their work no doubt derives from the fact that
Chevra Kadishas are strictly family concerns, and each
generation takes pride in carrying out its avodas
hakodesh. Most of the directors today are the
grandchildren of the original directors.
Rav Gelbstein's grandfather ran the Perushim for 50 years.
His son was involved for 41 years, and Rav Gelbstein has now
been in it for 31 years. Of course, Rav Gelbstein's children
are also working in it. "This is not just work but a family
concern," says Rav Gelbstein. "We worked for years on
rehabilitating the plots on Har Hazeisim."
Chanaya Shachor of Kehillas Yerushalayim explains, "Most of
our staff comes from the family connection." He says this is
not just a matter of run-of-the-mill Israeli nepotism. "To
succeed at this work, you can't be an emotional type," he
explains. "Family members tend to have similar
characteristics."
He adds, though, that while one cannot be an emotional type,
one cannot be hardhearted either, since Chevra Kadisha work
puts one into continual contact with people when they are in
their most vulnerable state, broken and grief-stricken.
Why So Many Chevra Kadishas?
The uninitiated might wonder why every community has its own
Chevra Kadisha. According to halacha, isn't the
important thing that one is just buried in the ground? Why do
the Perushim, Sephardim and Chassidim each have their own
Chevra Kadisha?
This question shows a lack of awareness of the function of a
Chevra Kadisha and burial rites in Jewish life. First and
foremost, a Chevra Kadisha has always had a distinguished
role as a community service and not just burial business.
For instance, in Jerusalem, among the rules of every Chevra
Kadisha, is that part of the funds received for burial have
to be reinvested in the community's other needs. Perushim
maintain a kollel on the third floor of their
building. They also have a special gemach to help the
poor and chassonim, and they subsidize the
convalescence of every mother after her fifth birth.
Kehillas Yerushalayim gives help for every birth from the
seventh onwards, and also gives stipends for various needs.
The Sephardic Chevra Kadisha maintains gemachim and a
hachnosas kallah for poor couples.
Another reason that there are so many burial organizations is
that people, it turns out, are as sensitive about their final
resting place as the neighborhood which they choose to live
in. The halacha stipulates that a tzaddik
should be buried next to a tzaddik and a rosho
next to a rosho, as well as a few other
restrictions such as not burying enemies near each other or a
man and his divorcee.
Since these halachos indicate that it is relevant to the
neshomoh where its body is buried, even after it dies,
people take very seriously who their burial neighbors will
be. In particular, many families buy special sections of
multiple plots so the members will have their final resting
places next to each other. Similarly, many disciples of
roshei yeshiva or rebbes will go to great lengths to
be buried next to their revered rav or teacher.
It is a long-standing Jewish tradition to regularly visit
graves of deceased family members, particularly on the day
before rosh chodesh Nisan, rosh chodesh Elul,
Rosh Hashonoh and Tisha B'Av.
People also visit a deceased family member if someone is
seriously ill, or to "invite" them to a family wedding. This
attitude is based on the fact that the dead person's soul is
alive and according to tradition experiences the full range
of emotions, in heaven, even though the body is
nonfunctioning. The soul in heaven still retains a connection
to the remains of its body below. In the same way, it is
sensitive regarding the identity of its graveyard
neighbor.
Because of the well-established custom to visit the graves of
ancestors and great rabbonim, the Perushim have even
established an index to help people locate the most well-
known graves in Har Hazeisim. One righteous Satmar
chossid called Reb Tuvya Freund has thousands of
descendants who regularly visit his grave. On the Perushim
index, his grave site is listed on the first page.
Stunning proof of the connection between the deceased and his
live relatives can be provided by Chevra Kadisha directors,
who can tell true stories of individuals who were visited by
relatives in a dream and asked to bring the relative's bones
to burial in Israel. In at least one case, after the living
relative carried the reburial out, he received a visit from
his father in another dream and was thanked for his
efforts.
Halacha discusses the importance of being buried in a
cemetery which contains only Jews, and many Jews are
particular to be buried next to shomrei Shabbos Jews
only. Perushim deals almost exclusively with religious Jews,
so this is rarely a concern for them. But 90 percent of
Kehillas Yerushalayim's burials are non-religious Jews, so
for the shomrei Shabbos who want to be buried in their
cemetery, they have special plots.
Mixed Burials
The question of non-Jews being buried in Jewish cemeteries is
a troublesome topic, which in the past led to unpleasant
incidents when activists removed a non-Jewish body which had
been buried in a Jewish cemetery by misrepresentation. With
the large population of non-Jews in Israel today, this is not
a minor problem. In fact, many non-Jews prefer to be buried
among people of their own religion, but others do not
care.
Chananya Shachor, the director of the Kehillas Yerushalayim
Chevra Kadisha, says that he doesn't rely on burial
certificates from the Interior Ministry, and he has his "own
ways" to verify if the niftar is a Jew or not. At the
same time he admits that it is impossible to be 100 percent
sure if every person is a Jew.
He recounts a true story that happened in his office. A
chareidi man walked in and told him in distress, "The day I
have feared for 20 years has arrived!"
To Shachor's amazement, the man then related that his father
had passed away 20 years before, and his mother had bought
the plot next to him. "But my conscience doesn't allow me to
bury her there!" he confessed. He then explained that his
mother was not Jewish. Although he and his brother had
converted and became fully observant Jews, his mother had
never converted.
"My mother died this morning. She is a goy. This is
sitting on our hearts for 20 years! What should we do?"
The two brothers were greatly relieved when Shachor explained
that the cemetery has a special section for non-Jews, and
that they would accommodate the brothers by making the
funeral appear as Jewish as possible. At the funeral, no one
even realized that the cemetery was non-Jewish despite the
Russian names on the adjoining monuments. The levaya
proceeded, the children tore their clothes, and they sat
shiva for their mother. They sent a warm letter of
appreciation to Shachor afterwards.
The non-Jewish section of Har Hamenuchos, by the way, is
specifically for chasrei das -- those who do not
belong to a religious group, such as Russian non- Jewish
immigrants and assorted atheists. Practicing Christians and
Muslims have their own cemeteries.
Shachor says there is no competition between his Chevra
Kadisha and Perushim, and he usually directs religious
families to bury their deceased in the Perushim section
rather than in his, although sometimes he gets a religious
Jew who asks to be buried near a parent or relative in the
Kehillas Yerushalayim cemetery.
Since Perushim deal with the religious population whose
Jewish identity is clear-cut, there is little concern about
non-Jews ending up in their section. The same goes for the
Sephardim, who deal primarily with the Sephardic public which
has a negligible rate of assimilation in comparison with the
Ashkenazic public, and most of whom are at least minimally
observant. However, they too have sections for shomrei
Shabbos only.
Different Minhagim
There are a wealth of minhagim involved in every part
of the burial process. Among the Sephardim, there are a wide
variety of nusachs and minhagim. For instance,
some erect a monument on the 7th day after the death, the 8th
day, one month, or after a year.
Jewish law stipulates that one's picture should not be on the
monument, although I saw a monument on black stone
commemorating a famous Bucharian singer and chazon in
the Sephardic cemetery with a picture. The Chevra Kadisha
worker explained that in countries where Jews were buried in
joint cemeteries with goyim, the Jews often imitated
this non-Jewish custom.
The design of the monument is often revealing. Monuments of
those who died young often exhibit a cut branch, signifying
their death before they were able to blossom into a mature
individual.
In Jerusalem, nearly all graves are covered by a rectangular
stone platform of poured concrete with a stone facing which
covers the entire length of the grave, rising about two feet
above the ground and sometimes higher. The writing is on the
top panel of the box and sometimes the front or back
sides.
In some cases the writing is engraved in the stone, and black
lead is poured in. Others just paint the words onto the
stone. Some engrave vital information such as the name and
date and paint the rest.
In many graves there is a small cavity inset in the box where
candles can be lit in memory of the deceased and protected
from the wind.
In cases where there are relatives who did not receive a
proper burial, like those murdered in the Holocaust, their
names are often put on the sides of the stones.
Paying for Burial
Burial in Jerusalem is big business. The fact that most
Chevra Kadishas have beautifully designed and spacious
quarters testifies to the financial ability of running a
Chevra Kadisha.
Burial costs and development costs for the cemeteries are
inevitably intertwined with government funding, like most
things in Israel.
Israeli citizens and even tourists who pass away while in
Israel do not have to pay for a burial plot. Bituach Leumi
(National Insurance), Israel's "Social Security," pays the
NIS 5,700 (about $1,140) burial costs. This covers all the
basic costs of the funeral and the grave plot. The monument
stone is handled by separate contractors and is not part of
the burial or its costs. It must be arranged separately by
the family of the deceased.
Chevra Kadishas cannot charge a citizen for a burial plot or
for burial costs. They may charge a citizen who wants to
reserve a specific plot. The cost of this service was set by
a law passed last Av by the Knesset at approximately NIS
11,000 ($2,200).
Typically, one spouse passes away and gets his or her grave
for free, paid by the Bituach Leumi. The surviving spouse
than purchases an adjoining grave for him or herself. Mr.
Shachor says that 90 percent of all burials on Har Hamenuchos
involve couples. The new law also requires the Chevra Kadisha
to save the graves on both sides of the deceased for 90 days,
to give the spouse and relatives a chance to purchase it.
Mr. Shachor says that an economist hired by the Chevra
Kadishas determined that the actual total cost to them of
development is NIS 14,500 per grave and not NIS 11,000 as the
Knesset claimed, and that this new law puts an undue burden
on the Chevra Kadishas. However, Rabbi Moshe Gafni, who
passed the burial law, says that he waited months for the
Religions Ministry to decide upon a tariff that would be
uniform and just. Only when it failed to do so, did the
Knesset pass the law.
"On everything in the State, the tariffs are fixed so the
public knows what it is getting -- bread, gas, telephone
costs. But the cost of a grave was being set arbitrarily by
every Chevra Kadisha who charged whatever they wanted,"
explains Rabbi Gafni. "This led to abuses and it had to come
to an end. If NIS 11,000 is too low to fully cover
development costs, then we're willing to hear their arguments
as to why they should charge more. In the meantime, a year
has passed and they haven't appeared before the Interior
Committee to plead the case of higher fees. I wonder why."
The Chevra Kadisha does fund the development of the cemetery
depending on its own resources. Development costs can be
considerable: plotting and charting a new burial section,
reinforcing walls, fencing off areas, affixing lighting,
leveling slopes, building a funeral parlor, and
maintenance.
For instance, Perushim built a special platform surrounded by
a fence near the Chelkas Rabbonim in its cemetery so kohanim
can come visit the graves. This past year they have been
working on an entirely new concept in burial -- "burial in
caves" -- due to the increased need for burial places. This
involves cutting horizontal slices out of the mountain, and
then digging graves in it. The plateau would be supported by
columns, walkways which lead from the highest level to the
lowest, and lights to illuminate the paths.
"This way, we can utilize more of the mountain for graves,"
Rav Gelbstein explains. "We are having leading rabbonim check
this possibility out." A small miniature scale of such a
cemetery section already sits in the Perushim Chevra
Kadisha's lobby.
Hashgochoh Protis watches over a Jew right up to his
final resting place. The Chevra Kadisha owners have
astounding stories to relate about how Jews obtained the
specific grave they desired in ways strange and
unpredictable.
A Jew came to the Perushim Chevra Kadisha and asked if he
could be buried next to his father who had died many years
before. However, there was no available place next to his
father. All had been sold. The Jew wouldn't stop asking
because it meant so much to him. He wanted to be buried right
next to his father and he refused to buy any other plot.
Years went by but the Chevra Kadisha could not help him.
Suddenly, a Jew who had bought the grave next to the man's
father walked in to the Chevra Kadisha and said, "I want to
give up the grave I bought because I want to be buried next
to my father and grandfather on Har Hazeisim."
The astounded Chevra Kadisha director remembered that another
Jew wanted specifically this grave. He gladly switched graves
for the Jew who owned the plot to an available place on Har
Hazeisim.
The next day, the Chevra Kadisha phoned the first man to tell
him that he could have the plot he wanted. The man's son
answered the phone and told the stunned Chevra Kadisha
director that his father had passed away that morning!
They couldn't account for the fact that the second Jew had
held on to the plot for 20 years, and then suddenly, for no
discernible reason, decided he wanted to exchange it.
*
In another case, a Yerushalmi woman passed away and was
buried on Har Hamenuchos. After several years, the children
and grandchildren of the woman asked if they could reserve
the grave next to their mother for their father. But the two
graves next to the mother had been sold to a couple who lived
in Beit Hakerem. The children complained to the Chevra
Kadisha, "It's important for us to get this grave because our
father really wants it!"
They were rebuffed. "You had a lot of time to buy it -- why
did you not wake up only now?"
One of the Chevra Kadisha workers decided to do a favor for
the family. He said that he knew the couple from Beit Hakerem
who had bought the plots, and would try to convince them to
exchange them for plots in another area of the cemetery. But
every time he tried to get in touch with them, they were
always out.
Then one day, out of the blue, the couple walked in to the
Chevra Kadisha's office. They had heard that their niece was
divorced and alone, and they decided to purchase a plot next
to their plots for the niece. But in the row where they had
their two plots, there was no other available plot.
The Chevra Kadisha official suggested, "If you give up a
place near the road, I'll find 3 plots together for you."
The couple weren't in a rush. They wanted to see the new
plots. They negotiated back and forth, but didn't finalize
anything.
Then one Friday, the children of the woman buried next to
them phoned up the Chevra Kadisha and told them that their
father had passed away.
The Chevra Kadisha was in a bind. The couple from Beit
Hakerem had tentatively agreed to exchange their plots for
others, but they hadn't finalized the deal. The Chevra
Kadisha gave their number to the family whose father had just
passed away.
They contacted them immediately, and even paid the couple
from Beit Hakerem for costs and inconvenience suffered as a
result of the exchange. The husband was, in the end, buried
next to his wife.
*
"Even when one thinks there's no way to get a certain grave,"
says Rav Gelbstein, "Heaven sometimes makes it happen."
An even more riveting story involves a Jew from Texas who
steadily supported yeshivos including a large yeshiva
gedoloh in Jerusalem, but who wasn't religious
himself.
One day he contacted the Perushim Chevra Kadisha and said he
wanted to be buried next to his parents who were buried in
Jerusalem. Perushim did not want to sell him a plot because
he wasn't shomer Shabbos.
"We had to take in consideration the other people buried near
his parents," Gelbstein explains.
The Chevra Kadisha decided to talk it over with the rosh
yeshiva of the yeshiva the man supported. It was arranged
that the rosh yeshiva would tell the man that although
there is a place next to his parents, the Chevra Kadisha only
sells to shomer Shabbos Jews.
When the Jew heard that, he said resolutely, "If that's the
case, I'm changing my life. I'm chozer betshuva right
now! No matter what, I want to be next to my parents."
The Chevra Kadisha didn't rush to accept his declaration.
They stringently told him that after he kept Shabbos for a
whole year, and they received a letter from the local
rov attesting to it -- only then will they sell him
the plot. The man wrote the Chevra Kadisha a letter of his
own with his signature affixed that he has accepted upon
himself to observe Shabbos and mitzvos.
After a year of keeping Shabbos, the Chevra Kadisha permitted
him to buy the plot.
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