"Arrived in Moineşti (Moynesht), my
maternal grandparents' native town in Romanian Moldova, for my first visit, the
evening of Sept. 24 in torrential rain. The town derives its name from moină,
meaning drizzle, but this was no moină.
The next morning, the weather
seemed questionable for a visit to the Jewish Cemetery, the most significant
legacy of the town's rich Jewish culture in the late 1800s until the early
1920s. We decided to take a chance. During my drive there, with second cousin Sivan Sela and her son Orr Sela, the sun started coming
out. As soon as I set eyes on the cemetery, with its weathered gravestones, I
felt deeply moved and teared up... the depth of my emotions surprised me.
Entering the Cemetery House and viewing the religious ritual items, including
the platform where the deceased wrapped body was placed prior to burial seemed
very sacred to me.
Upon
walking into the graveyard, more tears were shed as I viewed and touched my
closest ancestors' gravestones. However, we searched for hours before finally
finding my great-grandmother Rebeca's gravestone, which had broken off so the
inscription could not be viewed. My nephew Orr Sela lifted it up slightly and
read, "Rifka bat Nachman!" Chills ran through my body as we all
yelled, "This is she!" Unbelievable how we found it! We cleaned and
rested the gravestone face up so she could be honored properly. It was truly
spiritual today... the sun coming out, the team work as we found her grave and
lifted up the headstone and cleaned it, and then the image of all my 5
ancestors' graves in one picture... truly AMAZING! Thank you from the bottom of
my heart Mihaela Rd and Coca, cemetery keeper, for all your help and
generosity... and Ggm Rifka for perhaps guiding us your way so we could take
care of your grave..."
Andrea Bernard
