Roots

      "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







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