After about 25 minutes, the service was concluded and
as Joel was making my way to the rear of the synagogue, an older man
approached me and asked in Hebrew where I was from. Trying to be
generic, Joel replied that he was from the East coast of the United
States. He then asked if by chance he knew his cousin, Gil Garber. As
he was speaking, before he mentioned the name of his cousin, Joel was
thinking, "now really, what is the chance that I know his cousin from
the millions of Jews living on the East coast of the US?" Then he was
stunned as he absorbed "Gil Garber." Turns out that less than two
weeks before Joel had spoken to "Gil Garber" at his synagogue in
Lexington, Massachusetts. Joel had sought him out on the
recommendation of common friends, because they said that he had made
a "roots trip" to Lithuania several years before and that he was in
the travel business. Gil had even sent Joel his families reports on
the trip and given me travel suggestions.
As Joel gathered my wits, and picked up his battered logic from
the floor of the Shul and walked out of the Shul with this man to
speak more, he realized that he could take a picture of him outside.
Then he realized that in hia right hand was a camcorder, so Joel
asked him to record a message to Gil, which he did and told him to
let Gil know that he had met his cousin Itzhak from Kovno. Itzhak was
not the least bit shy about talking into the camcorder and spoke
vigorously his greeting to his cousin.
Many headstones were standing, and the cemetery was in
relatively good shape, with the growth kept under control. It was
clear that there were many headstones missing too. We found the
headstone of Leah Naividel Krelitz, great grandmother of Esther, Zatz
and Joel and great great aunt of Marc, Lottye and Gary. Leon Menzer
had previously found the headstone of his grandfather. We also
identified the headstone of Sarah Beyleh Naividel Rosin, Great-great
aunt of Fania, Joel, Esther, and Zatz.