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Re: [OM] IMG: the old Jewish cemetery in Wrocław

Subject: Re: [OM] IMG: the old Jewish cemetery in Wrocław
From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 06 Jan 2014 13:57:00 -0800
On 1/6/2014 12:56 PM, Chris Crawford wrote:
> Graves in the non-Jewish cemetery get RE-USED if the family stops paying?
> Wow. In the US, graves are not reused and families do not have to pay
> maintenance fees. That's for all cemeteries, not just Jewish ones.

The financial arrangement is different. Here, you pay a fairly hefty fee up 
front. In theory, that fee is added to a 
perpetual endowment fund. Maintenance expenses are supposed to come from the 
earnings of the fund.

At the cemetery where several members of my family are enjoying a lovely view 
of the Golden Gate for 'eternity', the fee 
is significantly lower for areas of flat stones than upright stones, buildings, 
etc. In the flat stone areas, they can 
do simple maintenance by simply running a large mower over the whole area.

In practice, many cemeteries are private businesses. Some cheat on the fund 
when they need extra money, running, in 
effect, a long term Ponzi scheme. Some fail.

Honest mistakes/oversights occur too. My grandmother was a relatively early 
resident, so is down near the bottom of the 
hill, but up against the boundary fence. A nice tree has grown there, and the 
grounds keepers hadn't noticed the missing 
stone. My brother noticed and notified them. The stone was found, and reset 
next to grandpa's stone on his abode next 
door. He moved in about 30 years after she did.

I suppose they would have removed the tree if Family required it, but that 
didn't seem right. I can't see getting 
excited about this stuff 60+ years later. A lovely tree seems better to me than 
an untouched grave. The overall setting 
is still beautiful and serene.

Doesn't meet the Jewish requirement, but mine are different.

> So, how is a grave reused? Do they pull out the body, and replace it with
> a new one, or do they stack more coffins on top of the old ones?

It's not a body, by then, just bones. I had a girlfriend whose family was from 
a small place on the rocky coast of 
Greece. The area is so rocky that arable land is precious. Bodies are buried in 
the small cemetery. Then after about 10 
(?) years, the bones are dug up, put in cardboard boxes tied up with string and 
labeled by hand. The boxes are stacked 
on shelves in a crypt.

Not Worried About the Dead Moose

-- 
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
-- 
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