Faithful celebrate departed loved ones at pre-holiday service

By CONNOR HOLMES
published in the Cape Coral Daily Breeze 9/14/09

"I felt him here with me."

That's the feeling a member of the Temple Beth Shalom congregation expressed to Rabbi Devora Buchen about her husband who had passed.

It is the reason the Beth Shalom congregant, along with 20 or so others, attended the Pre-High Holy Day Memorial Service led by Buchen in the warm Sunday morning breeze at Coral Ridge Cemetery.

The service, held annually either before Rosh Hashanah or before Yom Kippur, is held as a service to remember lost loved ones everywhere, Buchen said.

"People come together to remember," she said. "This service is for anyone buried anywhere in the world."

The service is open every year to the public and is held in a tranquil spot of the cemetery near the gate of the Beit Hakvarot HaKodesh.

Buchen led the attendants in prayer and an opportunity to vividly recall their loved ones in a long pause of silence.

"The service is important to me because I, as everyone else who was here, has lost someone dear," Buchen said. "It awakens feelings that you don't really know you have. It's more than just remembering."

The ceremony includes a traditional reading of the Kaddish, a prayer of remembrance which is read as a part of each service.

Buchen has been with Temple Beth Shalom for five years and will attest the warmth of the ceremony wasn't caused by the rising Florida sun.

"It's a wonderful congregation from young to old," she said, with about 150 families with children as young as 4-years-old attending. "It's a very warm congregation, a very embracing congregation. I really truly feel blessed to be their leader."

Members of the church are active in the community, including a social action committee aimed at helping the less fortunate, Buchen said.

The public is invited to attend services Fridays at 8 p.m. at 702 S.E. 24th Ave.

To learn more about Temple Beth Shalom visit: www.templebethshalomcc.org or call 772-4555.