Back pain gives new meaning to survival

Ispent a good portion of last week pining for Boy Scout summer camp 2018, when I skewered my finger with a fish hook and launched myself off an ATV into a roadside thicket of saplings.

Those were the good old days.

I’m an assistant scoutmaster with my son’s troop in Pickerington, a job that in theory involves keeping boys from injuring themselves in the woods.

In 2018, that became a matter of “do as I say, not

thousands of dollars and brought the Columbus Jewish community together to care for the dead and the places where they’re buried.

“There is no greater honor than honoring the deceased, but you can’t expect a thank you from the deceased,” he said. “Something had to be done.”

In just the past few weeks, 70 graves in two of the seven areas in Columbus where Jews are buried have been repaired, and Kevin Thompson, caretaker of some of the cemeteries, intends to repair more next week.

The project deals with graves and repairs in what Jews call the “old cemetery” off Alum Creek Drive, and a section of Mount Calvary Cemetery on the Southwest Side, Levy said. The organization also will tackle a drainage problem at the “new cemetery” on Performance Parkway.

“It’s just a matter of having the money to do stuff and get things done,” said Thompson, who has been working in local Jewish cemeteries for 33 years.

He said many gravestones are falling down because they were poorly installed years ago.

“It’s just a continuous problem, and it’s going to keep going on until we, like now, get a good chunk of it fixed,” Thompson said. “It’s not a one-time cure all.” Mark Levy, 64, of Eastmoor

“There is no greater honor than honoring the deceased, but you can’t expect a thank you from the deceased. Something had to be done.”

When people buy plots from the synagogues, the proceeds go only to landscaping the cemetery, Levy said. It’s actually up to the families to maintain stones and plots, which many don’t know.

That’s part of the reason it’s better to have a centralized organization to maintain all Jewish graves, he said. Soon, the association also will be where people buy their plots, Levy said.

Five synagogues are part of the association, whose funds are maintained with Jewishcolumbus, a nonprofit group formed by a 2018 partnership between the Jewish Federation of Columbus and the Columbus Jewish Foundation. Jewishcolumbus recently donated $125,000 to the association from its Moritz Mayer Testamentary Endowment Fund.

Mayer lived in Columbus with his wife, according to a statement from Jewishcolumbus, and prioritized helping bereaved families who attended Congregation Agudas Achim in Bexley and Congregation Tifereth Israel on the Near East Side.

Agudas Achim, Tifereth Israel, Congregation Ahavas Sholom in Bexley, Beth Jacob Synagogue in Berwick, and Temple Israel Downtown have joined the association so far. Levy said others can join, as well, if they wish.

The Tifereth Israel Foundation was the first to offer money for the association and cemetery repairs, Levy said. The synagogue donated $60,000 with a $30,000 match.

“It is a wonderful, wonderful thing for the Jewish community,” said Ron Solove, the president of Tifereth Israel. “One of the most important things to do is to take care of your dead and make sure their resting place is properly taken care of.”

The total estimated cost to do necessary repairs at the cemeteries is $250,000, Levy said, and some individuals have donated as well.

“We really needed to pool resources,” Solove said, adding that the Tifereth Israel Foundation maintains the synagogue’s cemetery fund, made up of gifts from congregants.

In the fall, Levy said, the association plans to have a company take photos of all the Jewish graves in the seven cemeteries in Columbus and log their locations before storing them digitally so family members and historians can access them.

Levy called the recent repair of gravestones and the establishment of an organization to manage repairs in the future “humbling and gratifying.”