Some reflections by Mindy Radler Glickman of the Queens Jewish community group J-High-TEQ:
“On November 15th, a beautiful Sunday, J-Hi-TEQ invited students, their families, and the community to be part of our first Hesed project at Bayside Cemetery in Ozone Park, Queens. A wonderful inter-generational group of people gathered to be part of a much larger project created to restore neglected Jewish cemeteries. It was truly sad to see the neglect, but uplifting to be part of this mitzvah project. Evidence of more glorious days was everywhere. Like a trip through history, we passed stones dating back to the mid 1800’s on our way to our worksite. It was hard not to draw images of what life had been for those resting here. We read dates and places of birth from all over the world. Many of the headstones were very beautiful, evidencing the loving families who are no longer around to care for these Jewish graves.
“After walking through parts that have already been cleaned up by other volunteers, we met Dr. Ronny Herskovits, who gave us a short history of the cemetery. He also gave us gloves, tools, and a poison-ivy warning. We jumped right in. It was only a few hours of work, but by the time we were done we realized that we had uncovered and rediscovered over 30 headstones. The kids and adults were truly terrific. We all worked very hard. It felt good. Teamwork was necessary to overcome many of the tree-like weeds which had developed. The quiet chatter of people working together to accomplish this holy task was uplifting. In contrast to many cemetery visits, this one was filled with smiles, not tears.
“When we finished the physical work, Rabbi Jeff Glickman led a short, inspirational session. His lesson personalized our cemetery visit. ‘Who can name all 8 of our great-grandparents?’ he asked. He then linked the answer to the week’s Torah portion. Rabbi Glickman distributed small riverstones, and while he recited the ‘Kel Malei Rahamim,’ each of us symbolically placed these rocks on no longer forgotten gravestones. As we laid our stones, we called the departed’s name out loud. The names echoed through the silence and above the sound of the passing trains.”
