Obituaries
Cemetery Restoration
Belarus can't bring the Jews back, but project brings their presence back.
Lois Goldrich
New Jersey Jewish Standard
M
ichael Lozman has helped
restore seven Jewish cemeteries
in Belarus: Sopotskin, Indura,
Kamenka, Sharashova, Svir, Lunna and
Vselyub.
Belarus, located just east of Poland,
gained independence from the Soviet
Union in 1991. Before World War II, it was
home to a large Jewish population.
"We're helping to preserve Jewish his-
tory," said Lozman, who has worked with
teams of college students to restore order
and dignity to Jewish cemeteries. But, he
added, the work also accomplishes more.
By involving local communities and
schools in these efforts, "we inspire chil-
dren in all the grades to go back to their
books and relearn. It makes them knowl-
edgeable about Jews:'
Each year, Lozman's teams sponsor a
banquet and essay contest, giving prizes
for the top three entries. Students are
asked to write about the relationship
between Belarus and the Holocaust.
"They have to go back into their history
and find the role of Jews," said Lozman,
pointing out that no Jews remain in those
communities today.
"The children get personally involved in
these projects:' he said, "coming to volun-
teer their services after school. It makes
them a part of the restoration project." He
hopes this support will continue and that
the sites will be kept up.
When Lozman locates the cemeteries,
"they're garbage pits, eyesores. The villages
thank us for restoring them;' he said, point-
ing out that its misleading to think that
"we just go to clean up a cemetery. There's
just land with no perimeter, no markings
— everything has been destroyed. There's
no wall; just a few stones.
"We search for and re-erect grave mark-
ers, add Stars of David, and then put up
fences and gates. When we're finished, it
looks like a cemetery:' he said.
A resident of Latham, N.Y., Lozman
began his work in 2001 after a visit to the
"broken-down field" in Sopotskin that
once was the Jewish cemetery. Traveling
with cousins, the New York orthodontist
was shocked by what he saw and resolved
to restore the burial site.
With the permission and assistance
of the Sopotskin mayor, a team of work-
men, and a weed whacker, Lozman kept
his word — uncovering 25 gravestones
and marking them with Stars of David.
The next summer, joined by a small
group of students from New Hampshire's
Dartmouth College, he erected a fence
and re-erected more than 20 gravestones,
documenting the names on the stones.
Since that first summer, Lozman has
returned to Belarus with students from
Dartmouth, the State University of New
York-Binghamton, and Siena College, a
Christian institution, to restore Jewish
cemeteries and "serve as goodwill ambas-
sadors" to the local population.
Lozman has earmarked dozens of sites
that need restoration. Each project costs
$30,000-$40,000.
Not surprisingly, he is constantly seek-
ing donations and grants to continue
his work. For information, write to the
Restoration of Eastern European Jewish
Cemeteries Project, Inc., 17 Johnson Road,
Latham, NY 12110, or e-mail
mlozman@aol.com . El
THERE ARE SEVERAL REASONS
TO PRE-PLAN A FUNERAL
PRE-ARRANGING ENABLES YOU TO:
ALLOCATE TODAY'S DOLLARS INSTEAD OF THOSE
AFFECTED BY TOMORROW'S INFLATION
USE FUNDS WHILE REMAINING ELIGIBLE
FOR MEDICARE
HELP EASE LAST-MINUTE CHALLENGES THAT
CAN ARISE WHEN DEATH OCCURS
WHATEVER YOUR REASON, OTTO DUBE CAN HELP YOU
NAVIGATE THE LANDSCAPE OF PRE-PLANNING A FUNERAL
THE IRA KAUF1VIAN CHAPEL
Bringing Together Family, Faith & Community
18325 WEST NINE MILE ROAD, SOUTHFIELD, MI 48075 I 248.569.0020
B42
February 28 • 2008
I
FAX 248.569.2502
I
WWW.IRAKAUFMAN.COM