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Kostanay Shliach Ensures Jewish Burial for Local Jew

A Jewish burial was held in Kostanay, Kazakhstan, for a member of the local Jewish community and regular attendee at the shul, with the Rebbe’s Shliach and Chief Rabbi of Kostanay, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Zalmanov, personally overseeing the arrangements and carrying out the final stages of the burial • Read More, Photos

With most of those attending elderly and unable to assist with the physical work of the burial, Rabbi Zalmanov arranged a way to ensure that as much of the work as possible would be done in accordance with Jewish tradition. Local burial workers used machinery to bring the earth close to the grave, while the Shliach himself took the shovels of earth and carried out the final covering of the grave by hand. The gathering then recited Kel Malei Rachamim and Tehillim.

Rabbi Zalmanov also used the occasion to encourage those attending to take on additional mitzvos in memory of the deceased. Many local Jews, who grew up under the harsh Soviet Communist regime, still carry the fear and hesitation instilled during years when openly practicing Judaism could bring persecution. The Shliach encouraged them not to be afraid, and several were moved to tears as they took on mitzvos.

Drawing on past experience, Rabbi Zalmanov had arranged with the family that no non-Jewish religious symbols, such as a cross, would be placed at the grave. The family agreed. He also encouraged them to install a fence around the grave, creating a distinct Jewish burial plot.

In many former Soviet countries, dedicated Jewish cemeteries are uncommon. Even where Jewish sections exist within general cemeteries, they are sometimes no longer exclusively Jewish.

During the funeral, one attendee told Rabbi Zalmanov that he did not understand the reality of life there, explaining that they had grown up under Communist values and that Kostanay was not Eretz Yisroel. Rabbi Zalmanov responded by sharing the story of his grandfather, Rabbi Zalman HaKohen Abelsky, Chief Rabbi of Moldova and its capital Kishinev, who grew up in Moscow under Communist rule and maintained a Jewish home and a life of Torah and mitzvos despite the dangers.

Today, Rabbi Zalmanov told him, there is no need to live in fear: we are in the time of Geulah, and Jews can openly practice their faith in the streets.

The burial became an opportunity for the Jews of Kostanay to strengthen their connection to Torah and mitzvos in memory of the deceased and in preparation for the coming of Moshiach. Even in the most distant communities, ensuring a proper Jewish burial is an expression of the sacred mitzvah of Chesed Shel Emes and a reminder of the Jewish belief in the holiness of every neshama, Techiyas HaMeisim and the promise that “those who dwell in the dust will awaken and sing.”