I asked Dr. Abramson about the significance of this cemetery. “Culturally and religiously extremely important, but the Jews of the north are almost all gone.”
It is for good reason, - rather than establishing their own cemetery, many Jewish communities mainly continue to rely on cemeteries in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa; - people like to be buried near their families. There are occasional burials in Krugerdorf, ; however, most now want to be buried near their kin in the big cities such as Henry’s mother who will join her husband interned in Toronto.
He said, “The children's tombstones are especially sad. There are also some strange ones. Here's one nice thing - Jewish custom is to leave a stone on the tombstone of the person you are visiting. When I go up with my kids, we like to leave a stone on all of them, since they get so few visitors.” There is one war grave, bombardier, Walter J. Crotin, who died in action on April 23, 1943 with reference to the Jewish (lunar) calendar, 13th day of Nissan (spring) 5703.
When you visit you will notice that some tombstones have small rocks or pebbles on top of them. By placing a rock or a pebble on top of the tombstone, the deceased are honoured by letting people know that the gravesite has recently been visited. When others notice the rocks, they will see that this is a grave that visitors frequent, and they too will take an interest in who is buried there, and perhaps will visit the gravesite themselves, or will visit the sites that have not been visited. While placing a rock on a tombstone is an old Jewish custom, placing flowers at a gravesite is not. In life, people may enjoy the beauty of their physical surroundings, but when they die, all of their material possessions and beauty are meaningless and left behind. It is only their accumulated spiritual wealth that remains immortal, just like a rock, which stays forever. The act of placing a stone is called a “mitzvah’”. In Yiddish, a mitzvah often means “a good deed”—as in “Do a mitzvah and help Mrs. Goldstein with her packages.”
The cemetery is located halfway between Engleheart and Kirkland Lake. Travel north of
Engleheart about 12 km. Turn east on Aidie Creek Garden Rd, (Chamberlain Twp.) and travel 4.8 km you will cross Wabewawasa Rd (N/S) and it is 0.6 km from there on the south side. There is Jewish heritage in our family ,tree; stones were left, take some when you visit. Shalom. (shah-lohm). Contact the author at [email protected] ; visit www.steerto.com and on Facebook – Steer to Northern Ontario and Back Roads Bill Steer.
The head stone in Hebrew tells the story of the original drowning.