Cemeteries

If you are interested in looking for more information on the "Narajow" (in Yiddish, Narayev) area where my maternal grandparents came from, try this web site: http://www.personal.ceu.hu/students/97/Roman_Zakharii/zemla.htm

It is very informative.

We attended an unveiling this past weekend for my late uncle who passed away in October at the age of 98. I was able to visit with him last summer, but unable to attend the funeral. This was my way of saying good-bye, or as the psychologists say, having closure. He was a good man and my cousins did a beautiful job with their kind words and prayers at the cemetery.

The gates in the photo are at Mount Hebron cemetery in Flushing, NY. There were many gates in the cemetery, put up by the various burial societies or congregations for the immigrants. They reminded me of the words from Psalm 118 which we say in the Hallel prayers on Rosh Chodesh (new month) and holidays. My uncle passed away on rosh chodesh and I thought of these words... Pitchoo Li Shaari Zedek - "open the gates of the righteous for me..."

There is a beautiful chant to these words from Shlomo Carlebach. I did a painting of a gate with the calligraphy from these words when my mother passed away. For months before her death, and months after, I kept hearing the melody. I'm sure she and my uncle (brother and sister) are together now with the other righteous souls from our families.