Dozens of people turned out in temperatures of -20 Celsius (-4 F) for the funeral of a Holocaust survivor who was slated to be buried with only his brother in attendance in Canada last week.
Eddie Ford, a ninety-year-old Holocaust survivor, never married and had no children. Born in Budapest and living in Toronto for many years, he had little connection to Yiddishkeit; he did not keep kosher and did not even have a Jewish name.
According to the Ynet news site, Ford had been hospitalized over the past several months in the oncology ward of Sunny Brook Hospital, and during this time he began returning to his roots. In his final days, Eddie asked to meet with a local rabbi, and the hospital arranged for Rabbi Zale Newman to visit with Eddie.
Rabbi Newman helped Eddie choose the name “Ephraim ben Dov”, and reassured him that he would receive a proper Jewish burial.
A Holocaust survivor in Toronto received a proper memorial service thanks to strangers who connected through a rabbi’s Facebook post. #TheMoment pic.twitter.com/tN7nYV6aWI
— CBC News: The National (@CBCTheNational) February 2, 2019
Ephraim Ford passed away during one of the coldest spells recorded, making the task of gathering a Minyan for his funeral a daunting task.
At 11 p.m. on the night before the noon funeral on Jan. 31, Rabbi Newman posted the following on Facebook: “Please note, members of the Jewish community in Toronto, we need a minyan to be present tomorrow afternoon for a charming Holocaust survivor who passed away. We will gather tomorrow, January 31, in the Pardes Chaim cemetery to accompany him on his last journey. This is a great act of kindness.”
“Won’t take long but please dress warmly,” he added.
Unbeknownst to him, the post was widely shared and dozens turned up to the Pardes Chaim cemetery to bury a man they had never met.
“When I saw the post on Facebook, I realized the gravity of the situation. Here was a Holocaust survivor who needed to be buried. So I didn’t think twice. I just left everything and got there as soon as I could,” filmmaker Ronen Israelski, who documented the event, told Canada’s CBC News.
“This lonely survivor received a hug from the Jewish community of Toronto and from our Jewish heart. I know something about the Holocaust because my father is a Holocaust survivor, and I could not bear the thought that this person would be buried alone,” Israeliski said.
Beautiful #Jewish guesture: 150 Jews Canadians & #Israelis answered tweet of local Rabbi & showed up In -13f🥶 (-25c) to funeral of #Holocaust survivor, childless Edi Ford who’s last request to be Buried in a Jewish funeral. #Toronto (📷Ronen Israelski)credit ynet #Jewishpeople pic.twitter.com/MFnGUkJCJg
— Galit Peleg (@GalitPeleg) February 3, 2019
Newman said he was astonished by the fact that so many people had dropped everything to ensure they could attend the burial.
“When I arrived at the cemetery, I couldn’t get in because of a traffic jam. I thought there was another funeral at the same time and I wondered how we would find Eddie’s resting place. I asked people and they told me they were on their way to Mr. Ford’s funeral,” Newman said, according to Ynet.
“I walked in the freezing wind and when I reached the grave, I found 150 people in a huge warm circle of love,” he said. “I am crying and thinking how sad and amazing it is to be part of the Jewish people, who at short notice will leave everything, go a long way, and stand in an open field in a freezing wind, to accompany a Jew from Budapest on his final journey.”
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2 Responses
He had the zchus of doing teshuva shortly before he was niftar. As such he leaves this world a tzadik going to gan eden despite having not been Torah observant all his life.
Absolutely beautiful. They will all merit Gan Eden