To Life!

G - NER TIONS

Mitzvah Of Remembrance

Vol tei er ariette Klein, r
Bloomfield and her daughters, tOrgan,.. ,

17, and Devin, 13, takes a motTie_„

Hadas and Sam Corey and their

mother, Lisa, assist Herman Helfand

visit the graves of her grandp4(
May and Simon Klein and Dorot

at Beth Tefilo Emanuel Cemetery at
part of the Kever Avot program.

in Ferndale.

Edward Sklar - at Machpelah C

Graveside visits spiritually inspire
seniors and chaperones alike.

Robert A. Sklar
Editor

H

erman Helfand of Oak Park
doesn't have a car or anyone he
can readily call for a ride. So
when he heard about the Jewish commu-
nity program that arranges for seniors to
visit the graves of loved ones the Sunday
before Rosh Hashanah, he was eager to
take part. Seniors are paired with vol-
unteers, who make it easier to find the
headstones.
It's a very special mitzvah.
Helfand, 68, was glad he had the chance
this past Sunday to visit the graves of his
parents, Florence and Meyer, two aunts,
Edith and Shirley Zimmerman, and his
grandmother, Jennie Zimmerman, at Beth
Tefilo Emanuel Cemetery in Ferndale.
"The visit helped a lot," Helfand said
while climbing back aboard a small bus in
the company of his volunteer chaperones,
Lisa Corey of Birmingham and her two
kids, Hadas, 14, and Sam, 12.
"I appreciate what they did more than
you know," Helfand said. "My close rela-
tives have either passed away or no longer
live here."
The Coreys were among 115 volunteers
who accompanied 72 Jewish seniors to 11
local cemeteries as part of Kever Avot, an
annual communal event of Temple Israel in
West Bloomfield and Ira Kaufman Chapel
in Southfield. The morning event enables
seniors without the means or ability to get

to the cemetery to recite Kaddish at the
gravesides of family and friends during
the High Holiday season. The seniors were
picked up by bus or van at 11 assisted-care
and independent-living complexes.
"We're blessed that we're able to do this','
said event chair Marc Siegler of Walled
Lake.
During a dvar Torah as volunteer chap-
erones gathered at Temple Israel on Sept.
17, Rabbi Joshua Bennett said, "You truly
make an enormous difference in the lives
of members of our community."
Despite meticulous efforts by bus cap-
tions to flag graves ahead of time, some
seniors decided right at the cemetery
to visit more graves. Volunteers lovingly
trudged through the grounds to locate
those sites as well.
Hadas Corey, 15, counts Volunteer
Impact work among her other giving-back
moments. She has been a part of the Kever
Avot corps for five years. "I feel so good
afterward," she said. "It's nice to know
you're doing something that really helps."
As a bonus, the Birmingham Seaholm
High School student got to visit the
graves of her grandfather, Joseph Corey,
and her great-grandparents, Sue and
Harry Rubenfire, all buried at Machpelah
Cemetery next to Beth Tefilo.
Just as his sister did, Derby Middle
School student Sam Corey, 12, liked "meet-
ing new people and helping them remem-
ber loved ones."
Lisa Corey said it means a lot to have

YolunteerS'Lynn Leib of West Bloomfield-
/Baldwin of Southfield flank Sofia ,
and

Of Oak Park at the gravesite of her
kiory, at Nusach H'Arie Cemetery in

her children take part. "At home," she said,
"they hear stories about their grandpar-
ents. It's very important that we keep
those memories alive. We were able to
do that today. It's all about tradition and
family — their grandparents and great-
grandparents will live on through Hadas
and Sam."
Nate Shapiro, 87, of Southfield has vol-
unteered since Kever Avot's inception nine
years ago. This year, he chaperoned Freda
Rose Fuchs, a Kentucky transplant now
of Oak Park. "We read Kaddish together,"
Shapiro said. "I read the Hebrew one word
at a time and she repeated after me. I
found it immensely rewarding."
The people connections are what make
Kever Avot work. "It's not only a wonderful
opportunity to do something nice for peo-
ple," said funeral director David Techner
of Ira Kaufman Chapel, "but a lot of really
nice friendships have been created in the
process among volunteers and seniors,

with some even having dinner together."
Herman Helfand echoed the refrain of
this year's first-time participants. "This .
was very important to do today:' he said.
"God willing, I'll do it again next year. I
feel much better having done it.
"You have no idea."

Kever Avot, Hebrew for "Graves
of our Ancestors," is a 9-year-
old program of Temple Israel's
Robert Sosnick Family Life Center.
Ira Kaufman Chapel sponsors it.
Jewish Home & Aging Services
donated snacks and lunches. Breath
of Spring of Bloomfield Township
provided flowers. Jay Korelitz of
Farmington Hills provided stones to
place at gravesites. The program is
open to the community regardless of
affiliation.

September 21 • 2006

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