From Our President

This summer, I returned to Boston to attend my mother’s unveiling: the ceremony when the headstone on the grave is “unveiled.”  We all shared in the prayers and reminiscences, fortunate to be with family in our remembrance of the grief a year before. As I was leaving, I picked up a book by the Jewish Cemetery Association of Massachusetts (JCAM), an organization that came into being to reclaim cemeteries that had been abandoned when the last of their “members” died. 

JCAM now manages 101 Jewish cemeteries in Massachusetts.  The book told the history of the “landsleit” organizations – immigrant mutual aid and fraternal societies that were formed by the new Americans.  One of their first steps was to provide their members with a Jewish burial site.  My mother’s section was named for the town, Polonnoe, in Russia from which my grandparents emigrated.  Other sections were named for Temples or lodges, including the "Workmen’s Circle" and “Custom Tailors”.   One was "Lord Rothschild".

We are fortunate at CABI that early board members had the foresight to purchase land at Morris Hill cemetery and, more recently, at Cloverdale Cemetery.  It is well to plan ahead and secure a grave site.  My mother purchased her whole funeral in 1995.  Like any good Jewish mother, she “didn’t want to be a burden.” Our cemetery committee has had several occasions, in the past six months, to be reminded of this need to plan for end-of-life matters.  On different occasions, we have been asked for assistance with the considerable cost of a funeral. One way we will help, in the future, is through a nominal fee that will be added to the price of a burial plot and used for a welfare fund.  We are proud to be able to assist in ensuring a Jewish burial for those who wish it.  For more information on burial site purchase, contact the CABI office.  And talk to your family, children and older parents about end-of-life planning. 

Sherrill Livingston