A Jewish man who was buried nearly 25 years ago without a matzeivah has at last received one, restoring kavod hameis to a niftar who had largely been forgotten.

The effort began following a conversation between Levi Piekarski, an askan involved in restoring neglected Jewish graves, and Rabbi Aaron Margolin of the Chabad House of Virginia. In the course of their discussion, Rabbi Margolin recalled being mesader a levayah for a Yid nearly a quarter-century ago. For all the years that had passed since, no matzeivah had ever been set up at the kever.

That recollection set off a lengthy effort to establish the niftar’s proper name and to arrange for a permanent matzeivah.

Rabbi Piekarski told YWN that pinning down the correct name proved no simple matter. He was in touch with numerous organizations and individuals, among them members of the chevra kadisha and others familiar with burial records, but at first met one dead end after another. But after weeks of research, the niftar’s Hebrew name was finally confirmed as Yirmiyahu Yaakov ben Yosef.

With the identification complete, work began on setting up a proper matzeivah. The monument was erected on Chof Sivan, nearly 25 years after the original kevurah.

Rabbi Piekarski – who has had a hand in restoring more than 350 neglected kevarim and matzeivos – extended his hakoras hatov to Rabbi Shimon Goldman of the chevra kadisha, who helped see the installation of the matzeivah through to completion.

Projects such as restoring neglected kevarim and erecting matzeivos for niftarim who have no family or means of their own typically depend on private donations. Each restoration calls for considerable time, research, and expense, from tracking down burial records to designing and setting up a proper matzeivah.

To have a part in future matzeivah restorations, or to learn more about ongoing projects, be in touch with Rabbi Levi Piekarski at 516-474-5846 or [email protected].

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)