About three people die per week at my shul.\u00a0 (I belong to a big shul.). My rabbi must live at funerals.\u00a0 True, he has an associate rabbi, but still, I think he — the senior rabbi — does most of the heavy lifting.\u00a0 The senior rabbi told me Costco has the best lox in town. He should know; he must see at least five dairy spreads a week.\u00a0 (I see my fair share, too.\u00a0 Love a dairy spread!)<\/p>\n
The passing of \u00a0Albert \u201cBert\u201d Stratton . . .<\/p>\n
That\u2019s overkill.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n I prefer “the passing of\u00a0 Albert Stratton.\u201d\u00a0 A bit more consequential than “Bert.”\u00a0 I wonder if Melvin Weiner went by Mel.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know him.<\/p>\n I visited my mom\u2019s grave recently and couldn\u2019t find it because it had snow on it.\u00a0 (The headstone is flush with the ground.)\u00a0 I found the approximate location of the grave and drew a Jewish star and Mom<\/em>.\u00a0 She\u2019s been dead 10 years.\u00a0 She\u2019s at Hillcrest Cemetery, as is my dad.<\/p>\n My grandparents are buried on the other side of town, as are two of my great-grandparents.\u00a0 [Stratton kids, see notes below.]<\/p>\n My wife<\/strong><\/span> doesn\u2019t want to be buried in our shul’s cemetery (Park Synagogue \/ Beth Olam) because it\u2019s too cramped.\u00a0 I\u2019m fine with the Park cemetery.\u00a0 I would like to be up close next to a bunch of other people\u2019s bones. My wife wants to be in Lake View Cemetery.<\/p>\n Actually, she doesn\u2019t \u201cwant\u201d anything.\u00a0 For instance, she doesn’t want to discuss this.<\/p>\n I wonder if my rabbi does burials at Lake View, or if his college-age son will someday.\u00a0 Maybe the kid will become a rabbi, and I\u2019ll live another million years.<\/p>\n I think<\/strong><\/span> my rabbi will do Lake View — a nondenominational garden-style WASPy place.\u00a0 I see Jewish stars on some of\u00a0 the tombstones there now.\u00a0 Lake View is in Cleveland Heights.\u00a0 Nice touch.\u00a0 It\u2019s not by the freeway.<\/p>\n Maybe I can talk her into Park.\u00a0 How much time do I have?<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n You won’t want to read this part unless\u00a0you’re very closely Bert’s parents, Theodore “Toby” and Julia\u00a0(Zalk) Stratton are at Hillcrest Cemetery, 26200 Aurora Road, Bedford Heights. Temple Emanu El section,\u00a0 by the\u00a0 tree.<\/p>\n Toby’s parents, Louis and Anna (Seiger)\u00a0Soltzberg, are at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery, aka Ridge Road #1, 3740 Ridge Rd.\u00a0 Cleveland.\u00a0 (“Front Left Section” — that’s what the cemetery sign says.\u00a0 The grave is about seven rows in from Ridge Road, before the Section 3 sign).\u00a0 Also, against the fence, Cecile Soltzberg, baby, Anna’s\u00a0 3-year-old daughter, died about 1909.<\/p>\n Julia’s parents, Albert and Ida (Kassoff) Zalk, are at Workmen’s Circle Cemetery, 5100 Theota Ave., Parma. Their graves are not in the Workmen’s Circle Section.\u00a0 They are in the Warrensville Synagogue Section.\u00a0 Rear Left section.\u00a0 Section P, Row 11, grave 5.\u00a0 Here<\/a> is a blog post about Bill Katz and me sneaking into that cemetery after-hours.<\/p>\n Ida’s parents, Morris and Sadie (Levine) Kassoff, are at Lansing Road Cemetery, 3933 E. 57th Street, Cleveland (Slavic Village). Anshe Grodno Section 1. Row 13. Graves 6 & 7.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/home\/yiddis6\/public_html\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/albert-tombstone2-300x273.jpg\" "\\"albert")
<\/a>But I\u2019d rather be in a cramped funky Jewish cemetery by the freeway, like Park’s cemetery.\u00a0 On the other hand, I do want to be near my wife\u2019s bones, so I guess I\u2019ll go with Lake View.<\/p>\n
\nrelated . . .<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/home\/yiddis6\/public_html\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/julia-and-celeste-at-grandparents-graves-1997-300x214.jpg\" "\\"julia")
<\/a>Julia (Zalk) Stratton (1920-2004), left, and her sister Celeste (Zalk) Kent (1926 – ) at their grandparents’ grave, 1997.<\/p>\n