A late-night phone call last week set in motion a remarkable overnight mission of chesed shel emes, as a group of devoted Chevra Kadisha members traveled hundreds of miles to ensure that a niftar received a proper taharah.
A longtime Chabad shliach in New Hampshire, who has served the state’s Jewish community for more than 36 years, received a call late Wednesday night from a woman he had not spoken with in years. In tears, she informed him that her brother had been niftar in Concord.
Immediately stepping in to assist, the shliach began gathering the necessary information and coordinating arrangements to ensure a proper kevurah. He contacted the local Chevra Kadisha and worked to schedule a taharah and a Friday morning levaya.
By Thursday afternoon, however, it became clear that the situation was far more complex than initially understood. The small, volunteer-based local Chevra Kadisha determined that the circumstances were beyond what they were equipped to handle.
An alternative plan was made to transfer the niftar to Boston, where a larger and more experienced Chevra Kadisha could properly perform the tahara before returning him to New Hampshire in time for the levayah.
However, the niftar’s sister objected strongly and refused to allow the transfer, stating that she would not permit her brother to be moved.
With the levayah fixed for Friday morning and time rapidly running out, the shliach and local volunteers went to the funeral home in Concord to assess the situation themselves. After seeing the circumstances firsthand, they concluded that a proper tahara could not be performed locally.
Facing what seemed like an impossible situation late Thursday night, the shliach reached out to Rabbi Mordy Hecht of Crown Heights for help.
Without hesitation, Rabbi Hecht immediately began assembling a team from Chesed Shel Emes and committed to coming if necessary.
Just after 9:00 p.m., a group departed New York and began the 260-mile drive to Concord. They arrived at the funeral home at approximately 1:05 a.m. and immediately began the tahara, completing the sacred task in a little over an hour.
The funeral home director, deeply moved by the dedication and determination of the group — who had traveled overnight for a niftar they had never met — remained at the facility to observe the process until it was completed.
At 2:25 a.m., the shliach received the message he had been waiting for: the tahara was complete, and the group was already on their way back to New York.
Despite offers to stay overnight, the team insisted on returning immediately, disappearing back into the night after fulfilling their mission of chesed shel emes.
As the shliach reflected afterward, the experience was a living testament to the timeless truth: “מי כעמך ישראל גוי אחד בארץ.”
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10 Responses
Beautiful deeds. But why do we have to pour water on it by saying Mi Keamcho, thereby implying that other people from any different race would never do such good deeds. You don’t have to belittle others.
As I realize from the name tag that he was apparently a Kohen, I can’t help but think that perhaps due to the Tahara that his forebears (or maybe himself) held, he was Zoiche to have fellow Yidden be Moiser Nefesh for his Tahara.
Once again: Chabad, available for any Jew, anywhere.
“the shliach and local volunteers went to the funeral home in Concord to assess the situation themselves. After seeing the circumstances firsthand, they concluded that a proper tahara could not be performed locally.”
But later a NY group came, “They arrived at the funeral home at approximately 1:05 a.m. and immediately began the tahara, completing the sacred task in a little over an hour.”
What changed?
Please enlighten an am haaretz in these matters; what would have impeded the local chevra kadisha to carry out the tahara? Why were the dedicated team from New York able to?
@adar
Complementing one, doesn’t belittle the other. It picks up one even higher.
Im not sure if this was the burial by the Hebrew Burial association at the cemetery in Staten Island where a friend of mine alerted me they need a minyan just about every day. They bury almost every day between one and three people who have no family or friends. It’s scary. Two weeks ago they buried an Israeli fellow 72 years old who had one niece in Israel. The Rabbi who runs the burials is from Brooklyn Rabbi Shmuel Plafker. He had the niece on face time to watch the burial. I found out that this Israeli was in the Yom Kippur 1973 war. I mention to the niece what Rabbi Avigdor Miller Ztl once said. That every Israeli soldier has a share in the world to come. The niece upon hearing that burst into tears for every Jew deep down yearns for the eternal afterlife. This society can be looked up on line and they can put you on a whats up notice. These are cases of real meis mitzvahs. Some of the bodies lay in city morgues for months. Mi keamcha yisroel.
@ rebiztengoldpick CSE, happening to be a visnitzer group, not chabad, you can clearly see that in picture 3
Thanks Flatbush Yid for sharing that about people who do great things quietly, without promoting themselves all the time.
How does it get in the news when a boy finds $80,000 in a desk that he bought and then returns it to the rightful owner. Obviously someone calls the news first