Mrs. Zorchish was flabbergasted. She was repeatedly having dreams in which she was being taken to task for not completing the matzeivah of her friend, Chana Perel. They very much disturbed Mrs. Zorchish, an average housewife who could not understand what was being asked of her.
Ever since Chana Perel got to know Mrs. Zorchish in the 1980s, she would call every Thursday to share her worries and fears, and to wish her “good Shabbos.” Chana Perel lived in a rundown neighborhood in the Bronx, crammed into a substandard apartment with only her childhood memories and all her worldly possessions that she never had the heart to dispose of. (She would often relate how she never worked on Shabbos during the Depression, even when that meant losing job after job each Friday. Notably, Chana Perel would never speak a word of lashon hara, often commenting that it was far better to talk about her cat then to talk of the misdeeds of others.)
At the end of the winter of 1999, Chana Perel was evicted from her apartment and placed in a state-run nursing home. For Mrs. Zorchish to visit her, she needed to present ID and fill out a lengthy form, on which Mrs. Zorchish identified herself as Chana Perel’s “next of kin,” since she was the only one who was caring for her. Mrs. Zorchish’s first and only visit took place on Monday, July 4, 1999.
One Thursday at 9 a.m., in September, the phone did not ring as expected. By 11 a.m., Mrs. Zorchish was becoming concerned, and having gotten the contact numbers on her earlier visit, she nervously dialed the floor nurse, only to learn that Chana Perel had passed away just a few hours earlier.
The nurse shared that funeral arrangements were going to be made the following week (!). Mrs. Zorchish requested to be transferred to the Chaplain, and identified herself as the “next of kin,” demanding that the burial take place immediately as per Orthodox Jewish law. A minyan of chashuve Bnei Torah was hastily assembled for the kevura, early Friday morning, Erev Shabbos Shuva. No one refused the opportunity to be part of a minyan for a meis mitzvah on that auspicious day.
At the curbside service in the bais ha’chaim, the Rav turned to Mrs. Zorchish and asked for Chana Perel’s father’s name. Mrs. Zorchish mentally scanned the thousands of hours they’d spoken over the years, and responded “Yaakov Shimon.” The levaya continued with every dikduk in halacha. Details of her life were provided, and the hespedim were as bakavodik as those delivered at any frum levaya.
Chana Perel had purchased the plot, and the administrator of the will was responsible for the matzeiva. And so, with any further achrayus taken off Mrs. Zorchish’s shoulders, life went on...until a year later, at the end of 2000, when the dreams started coming. The dreams were very troubling, especially not knowing what was being demanded of her.
And then Hashem orchestrated two amazing events: The first was Mrs. Zorchish receiving a note from her son’s yeshiva that was signed by the Menahel: R’ Yaakov Shimshon. Like a bolt of lightning, Mrs. Zorchish remembered that Chana Perel’s father’s name wasn’t “Yaakov Shimon” as she had told the Rav at the levaya but was actually Yaakov Shimshon!
A Rav confirmed that such a mistake is a problem, and Mrs. Zorchish was beside herself at the error and the dreams.
In a totally disconnected event, a week later, on Jan 3, 2001, Rabbi Zorchish’s elderly parents requested that he drive them to a distant cousin’s hakamas matzeiva. Although originally Rabbi Zorchish had not been planning to attend, about an hour before the event, he decided to drive his parents to the cemetery. Uncharacteristically, Rabbi Zorchish wandered away from the gathering and came across Chana Perel’s sister’s matzeiva, who was buried close by. This confirmed that Yaakov Shimshon was, indeed, their father’s name! Following the short distance to where Chana Perel had been laid to rest, it became apparent that the administrator had not fulfilled his word — no matzeiva had been put up! The meaning of the dreams was much clearer now.
Both pieces were thus in place: the name of the father and the location of the grave. Within a few days, using the same “next of kin” designation, the cemetery granted permission to put up a matzeiva. The Zorchish’s Rav crafted a beautiful nusach that included Chana Perel’s shemiras Shabbos and shemiras ha’lashon, which encapsulated the greatness of a woman who lived her life anonymously but was clearly recognized as eminently worthy in the Olam Ha’Emes, and her kavod ha’achron was completed. And then it was over — a woman who lived her life on the outskirts of society had a burial suitable for a matriarch in Klal Yisrael.
After the Zorchish family did their best to provide her with the proper kavod ha’achron, Hashem had seen to it that the matzeiva — with the correct name — be placed, and her name would live on forever.
