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SHARON LUCKERMAN

Seniors, volunteers share
tears and prayers at gravesides
of loved ones.

14 to right last year:
Kever Avot volunteer Dana Glazer ofWateford escorts PI an
Gittleman of Southfield, prior to visiting the gravesite o his
wife of 68 years.

Volunteer Bobbi Green and Rose Kurzman, both of West
Bloomfiek about to visit a cemetery during the program.

Volunteers Marcia Kahn of Farmington Hills and Sheila
Goldberg of Bloomfield Hills assist May Heiman of West
Bloomfield through Kever Avot.

Editorial Assistant

T

he volunteers treated us like we were their mothers — mothers they
loved!" said Harriet Remer of West Bloomfield.
Remer will again join 50 other seniors and 100 volunteers on
Sunday, Oct. 8, for Temple Israel's third annual Kever Avot, or
Graves Of Our Ancestors, program. The morning program, held on the
Sunday between the High Holidays, enables seniors living in Jewish senior-care
facilities to visit the gravesides of their loved ones.
"Many of these seniors have not had the opportunity to return to the
cemetery since a family member was buried," explained Temple Israel's
Mark Siegler, program co-chair with Ida Nemzin. "They are the last mem-
bers of their family alive. They would like to go to the cemetery, but have
no way of getting there; no one to assist them to find the gravesite; no one
to share their feelings with; no one to console their grief. We are there to
assist in all of these areas."
"It's a wonderful program," said Hyman Gittleman of Southfield. A spry
96, he signed up to go again with the group this year. "It's very well thought
out. They even give you tissues, as well as stones [traditionally placed at a
gravesite, to show someone has visited]."
"I appreciated the consideration and kindness," Remer added. "It's a very

41 14

10/6
2000

