Aaron Pomerantz

THE MIRACLE OF PICTURES  The Following two images led me to discover, my paternal grandfather, Aaron Pomerantz’s grave. In 2009, after a year of remodeling my parents’ home, a leak from a defected water filter in a new refrigerator, flooded the whole downstairs. The incident prompted me to digitalize all my parents photo albums and mementos. During the process I discovered the enclosed images.

BACKGROUND

Aaron Pomerantz died from tuberculosis (TB), at age 29, ninety years ago, on the second candle of Hanukkah. Aaron was a close friend of David Ben-Gurion and a supervising manager at the first paving and building company in Israel (Solel Boneh). In late 1929 Aaron was appointed to supervise the construction of the first workers neighborhood in Tel Aviv, and Ben-Gurion’s home. In mid 1930 Aaron contracted TB and was sent to Hadassah Hospital in Tzfat (Safed), where three years earlier, a TB department was established due to the clean and crisp air quality up in the northern mountains. Nevertheless, Aaron succumbed to the infectious disease and was buried in the old cemetery in Tzfat (Safed). The cemetery covers 120 dunums (29.5 acres) and over 4000 tombstones, which spreads out over a steeply sloping hill facing Mount Meron. While the cemetery is best known for the great scholars from the Middle Ages who are buried there, it is also known as the burial grounds for Jews who lived in the area thousands of years ago.

At the time of Aaron’s demise my father was 4 years old. As my father approached adulthood, he longed to visit his father’s gravesite but to no avail. Over the years and during Israel War of Independence in 1948, many of the tombstones at the ancient cemetery in Tzfat (Safed) were desecrated and vandalized by Arabs. The registration records and gravesite maps were either destroyed in fire or vanished circa 1939. Furthermore, landslides as well as the slow and steady erosion of the slopes, took down many of the tombstones, adding further confusion.

For years my dad searched for the grave site. As time passed, my father became more apprehensive about searching for Aaron’s gravesite; dreading renewed disappointments. Nevertheless, he proactively looked for the gravesite, each time dealing with another blow of frustration and another loss. With the passage of time, my father came to the conclusion that the father he barely knew, lived on the slopes below the Old City of Tzfat (Safed), breathing clean mountain air and being part of the great mystique of the past.

Every year, on the second night of Hanukkah, my father would light a yahrzeit candle, hoping for a miracle – that one day he would find his father’s gravesite. In my late teens, I was at Tzfat (Safed) for a weeklong artist retreat; I attempted to locate the gravesite and the tombstone but left empty handed. Over the years, my brother and I made additional efforts to travel to Tzfat (Safed) in attempts to locate the gravesite but gained nothing.

THE MIRACLE PICTURES

When I started digitizing our family’s photos and mementos, I came across a picture from late 1930 or early 1931 of my grandmother (with her brother-in-law, Itzhak Pomerantz) seating on the slope below the Old City of Tzfat (Safed). She is holding a plaque bearing the name of Aaron Pomerantz and his date of demise. In another picture, you can see the actual tombstone.

The above discoveries charged me with a renewed hope. For the first time, I had Aaron’s correct Hebrew date of demise; and I also held a noticeable location. In addition, the tombstone was not a vertical tombstone. It was a freestanding stone coffin, constructed as a monument. This plain sarcophagus like grave had an indentation on the front panel bearing a plaque with Aaron’s information.

I didn’t want to inform my father or raise his hope, yet, again. I started meticulously researching various sites, until I came across the name of Laurie Rappeport, Coordinator of the Livnot U'Lehibanot (in Hebrew – To Build and To Re-Built), who also runs Safed Tourist Information Center. I e-mailed her all my information and the following day she replied with the name of Haim Sidor.

Tzfat’s (Safed) second resource for genealogy researchers is a well-known tour guide, Haim Sidor, who has embarked on a remarkable project of mapping the Tzfat cemetery listing, photographing and mapping the graves. With little support or funding, Haim has, for many years, been quietly visiting the Old Tzfat cemetery several times each month, walking

through the weeds which cover the tombstones to try to decipher the names, birthdates, parents' names, and another information which can be found on these tombstones.

I immediately e-mailed Haim the name but not the pictures. Within 15 hours, he replied:

“I have been working on mapping, registering and photographing the Old Cemetery for many years. My work is only partially complete but so far I have covered about 1/3 of the legible graves. I am happy to inform you that the grave you are searching for is among those that have been mapped and photographed (the dates and other information correspond to the information you sent) and I should be able to find it again reasonably easily. Attached you will find a picture I took some years ago.”

I clicked on the icon and opened the picture. As soon as I saw the weathered plaque, my heart leaped and tears started tumbling onto the keyboard, cascading down and washing away years of mystery.

I forwarded the e-mail to my father and called to inform him of the Miracle in Tzfat (Safed). There are no words to describe my father’s happiness and relief. He was over an obstacle, which has been ever so present for almost 80 years.

FATHER AND SON REUNITE

We immediately made plans to travel to Israel and to Tzfat (Safed). On October 21, 2009, my father, mother and I arrived at the Old Cemetery in Safed. Next door to Rabbi Isaac Luria (HaAri) burial site, at an altitude of 2,953 feet, we entered the Military Cemetery and climbed down the steep hill and long stairs. As we descended, we passed by tombstones with inscriptions that revealed the presence of sages and mystics; further down we saw the burial site of the victims of the 1929 Arab pogrom (massacre) in Safed. Few feet away, at the end of the path, we spotted the monument to the Jewish underground fighters who were hung by the British (Oleh HaGardom – "those who ascended to the gallows"). To the right of the path, next to a large cypress tree, we located Aaron’s tombstone.

At last, my father, at age 84, had achieved a lifelong dream, paying his long-awaited respect to his father, Aaron. The feelings overflowed, unlike any I had ever experienced before. My father discovered the truth, yet until we have felt its force, it was not ours. Like red lanterns, the site light up our hearts as love, mystique and serenity reunited Father and Son.