True story- There once was a small town named Claiborne, Alabama which existed for approximately 90 years. It thrived as a commercial center, relaying cotton and other crops along waterways but the railroad pushed through the Deep South and then Claiborne died out. So, too, did the Jewish community that had lived life for three generations within Claiborne (not too far from Monroeville). Contributing to the local community by operating businesses and being involved in civic affairs, organizing a small congregation, raising its children Jewishly and even keeping kosher, the Jews of Claiborne had their own cemetery. But when the railroad arrived, towns along waterways ceased to be relevant and they dried up. All that remains of the Claiborne Congregation is the Jewish cemetery with a headstone inscribed 1899 indicating the last Jewish burial.
After decades of being forgotten, extensive overgrowth swallowed the cemetery and at one point in the late 1960s it was vandalized. In the year 2000, Jewish campers from Henry Jacobs summer camp cleaned the cemetery and removed decades of underbrush. 32 graves were restored! Ina way, some of the Jewish residents of Claiborne were made available to all who are interested in visiting them. Former families had become nearly reunited with their future.
Perhaps someday you and I might journey to a former state capital of Alabama which no longer exists and walk upon the grass viewing the markers which testify to a full and complete life lived by many people. How are we to feel when we visit the cemetery and the town no longer exists?
A gentle sadness lies within one small part of my heart over not being able to extend condolences to the descendants of Claiborne. If only, Halvai, someone were still attached to the cemetery. But all of life is a cycle. People live and die. People are born and others move away. In the words of Ecclesiastes “all the streams and rivers run into the ocean but the ocean is never full.” It is the course of all things.
In this week's Torah reading we learn that our matriarch Sarah has died. Abraham journeyed to a place just south of Jerusalem named Hebron and bought a field which included trees and a cave. He buried his wife there and years later he, too, was buried there by both of his sons, Isaac and Ishmael. A generation later, Isaac and Rebecca were buried there followed by the next generation of Jacob and Leah. The family took root and the burial place became sacred and established in history.
For centuries, Jews made pilgrimage to this area known as Machpelah. Often in hands other than Jews, Machpelah was not always safe to visit. Since 1967, Machpelah has been in Israeli hands but located next to the town of Hebron (wherein significant Palestinian tension arises) and prudent Jews have not always enjoyed secure access. While officially we Jews can visit Machpelah it is not always wise to do so. The first and only time I visited was when I was 14 years old on my initial trip to Israel. Now, 40 years later I wish I could remember more of that burial site, rendered sacred by millennia and the links between God and our ancestors. Perhaps some day I will visit Machpelah and reclaim something that eludes the offspring of Claiborne. If not, I can teach my children and your grandchildren and someday one of them will visit Machpelah in peace; meditating upon the passage of years in quiet and calm silence.
Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Steve Silberman
P. S. My thanks to Larry Voit for informing me of Claiborne and to Allie from ISJL for some fascinating background on Alabama Jewish history. Check out http://www.isjl.org/alabama-encyclopedia.html . For our own history please check out our website http://www.ahavaschesedsynagogue.org/#!the-shul/c1czk.
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