Easter Sunday, April 20, 2014 

No church this morning. Instead, I attended Eugene Abramovicz’s burial. Eugene was 86 years old, and was a survivor of Mohs concentration camp on the Rhine during WWII. He was snatched out of school at an early age and made to clean up Berlin (as part of his work with other boys). The Nazis called him “Israel,” and the name stuck. He said he helped clean up Berlin stone by stone. Because he spoke fluent German, English, and Hebrew, he was eventually hired by the American army—probably as an interpreter. Eugene did earn his high school diploma when he reached this country. We used to greet each other at market with a “Grüß Gott,” answered by “Wenn du ihn siest!” (Aber nicht so bald!) I will miss my friend. I shoveled dirt over his coffin along with the rest of the mourners. I noticed the stones on the tombstones and asked Jake about them. Here was his reply: 

All of our lives we pursue worldly goods. Years ago, crockery was considered symbolic of worldly wealth and the Jews would smash a bowl or teapot made of crockery or some other precious material and place the shards on headstones. This is to symbolize that in the end, after all of our pursuit of worldly goods, we, as well as our “worldly goods,” return to dust. 

Today, we replace the “expensive” crockery with stones. The fact that some people and in all honesty, it includes me, place stones on the graves of “others”, is a courtesy. I do it because I do not want people visiting my friends upon whose gravestones I have placed stones, only to see other nearby monuments devoid of stones. It is somewhat like saying hello to the roommate of a friend we may be visiting in the hospital. We do not want to give any other visitor the idea that someone is forgotten. 

I will go back soon to place stones on Eugene’s tombstone and gravesite, and perhaps to other gravesites nearby. I will say hello in this lifetime. Who knows but that I might be greeted by these souls in the next lifetime.

 

Later– 

Easter dinner at Cheryl’s: Roast leg of lamb and mint jelly, scalloped potatoes, asparagus, tossed salad (my dressing), and a lemon tort (mine). The tort was quite a piece of work. It was doing beautifully in the oven when the cookie sheet I had under it warped seriously, spilling the contents of my tort all over my stove. I had to lift it out carefully, attempting not to lose much more of the contents, and replace the horrid cookie sheet with a more reliable one. My sided pans were not large enough to accommodate the 11” removable bottom tart pan I used. Quite a job to manage. Spilled quite a bit, but had some reserve filling. Was good, but quite tart. Next time I make it, will reduce the lemon juice by half!