This week, in the Daf Yomi, we learned about the source of the practice of marking Jewish burial sites with gravestones- originally started as a way of warning Kohanim to stay away, as they could become ritually impure. As we were learning about this, my extended family has dealt with a headstone as well.
My great-grandfather, Rav Avraham Baruch Abba Rackovsky (1896-1958), was a well known Rabbi in Yerushalaim who was renowned for his sermons and his beautiful davening. He and my great-grandmother, Rebbetzin Chaya Basha (Mann) Rackovsky were married for several decades and had nine children together; unfortunately, he passed away at the relatively young age of 62. But my great-grandmother was not his first wife. Before marrying her, he was married to Rivka Chaya (Cohen), herself a member of a prominent extended Yerushalmi family. They were expecting their first child together, but tragically, she passed away on September 24, 1919 and the baby didn’t survive. We don’t know for certain whether she died during childbirth or of the global influenza pandemic.
Over the years, Rivka Chaya receded into our family’s rear view mirror. My great grandfather didn’t speak much about the tragic events that befell him before remarrying and starting a family. I confess that I didn’t know until relatively recently that he was previously married. Rivka Chaya was the sister of Chana, the grandmother of the noted Israeli author Haim Be’er. Last week, my uncle Dr. Gadi Gvaryahu contacted Haim Be’er, who helped identify her burial site on Har Hazeitim, the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. This week, he went to her gravesite, and found that it had seen better days, after more than a century (if you zoom in on the picture below, you can make out the writing on it). My uncle is now gathering family members so we can perform an act of kindness for Rivka Chaya and my great-grandfather, by cleaning and refurbishing her headstone. This tragic story ends in kindness, with a fascinating dose of history as well.
Hakarat HaTov
I am still processing the events of Shabbat and Motzei Shabbat just 30 minutes away from here. I will be sharing some thoughts with you about these events in my remarks on Shabbat morning- I hope you will be able to join me. For those who will not, I will, of course, be sharing them after Shabbat. This week’s Hakarat HaTov is obvious, and I will expand upon it further in my remarks on Shabbat morning.
Rabbi’s Recommendation
Today, the Freakonomics podcast just released the first in a two-part series titled “Why is Everyone Moving to Dallas”? I highly recommend it!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Ariel Rackovsky
Congregation Shaare Tefilla 6131 Churchill Way Dallas, TX 75230
