From Death Comes an Affirmation of Life

When one door closes, another one often opens. Take, for example, the series of events jump-started by a single person near the east coast of Australia.

Wayne Robinson, a Jewish man who lived in the rural New South Wales town of Goulburn, where there is no synagogue or established Jewish community, was nearing his final days. At his request, staff at the Goulburn hospital called the nearest rabbi, Rabbi Shmuel Feldman co-director of Chabad of the Australian Capital Territory, who serves out of the Northern Canberra Chabad Jewish Community Centre and Synagogue.

He drove 60 miles north from Canberra to Goulburn, and once there, talked and prayed with the man.

During their discussions, Robinson discussed whether he should be cremated, as many of his family had been, and asked about Jewish law on the subject. Feldman advised him and explained that it is much better to have a proper Jewish burial; Robinson agreed to that.

However, there hasn’t been a Jewish burial in Goulburn since 1943. The Jewish cemetery in North Goulburn is no longer operational with many tombstones destroyed or missing, and graves unmarked; it is now maintained only as a historical site. So the rabbi contacted the local town council to see if a new Jewish section in the main Goulburn cemetery could be set aside. They took it to the next council meeting, which happened to be that very night, and got the necessary permission.

Rabbi Feldman officiates at the consecration of the Jewish cemetery.

Two days later, Robinson passed away at the age of 59.

Feldman arranged for his body to be cared for by the chevra kadisha (Jewish burial society) in Sydney, which is two hours to the north, while he quickly started gathering a minyan, 10 Jewish men, to both consecrate the new Jewish cemetery and give Robinson a proper Jewish funeral.

The call went out on Friday for anyone who could come to Goulburn on Sunday to please do so. But as of Saturday night, Feldman didn’t think they would make it to 10.

Sunday morning brought a welcome role reversal: Feldman was calling people in Sydney to tell them they weren’t needed. The earlier request proved successful: two full minyans of Jews had traveled from Sydney, Canberra and places in between so that this man they had never met, but who was one of their own, might receive a proper Jewish funeral.

Some were observant, some were not, but all understood that this was important. Some came alone, some came with their families—women and children accompanying them to be a part of the event.

The rabbi described the day as momentous and heart-rendering: “Any words do not do it justice.”

“It was a stunning display of the strength and resilience of the community,” said Feldman. “You could see the secret to what has kept our people going for so long.”

By word of mouth, a number of Jews were also discovered in the Goulburn area. One man in his 60s who asked to remain anonymous revealed that he had never had a bar mitzvah.

So after the consecration of the new cemetery and the funeral service—which Feldman described as one of the most incredible and spiritual services he has ever run­—some of the visitors from Canberra went back to the South Hill Art Gallery in Goulburn and gave that man a bar mitzvah.

The gallery—a beautiful estate and a historically spiritual place that used to be a nunnery—served as a perfect backdrop while he put on tefillin and said the prayers in front of his wife, daughters and the traveling minyan, all ofwhom were singing joyously.

The rabbi described the day as incredible: “You could feel the spirituality; it was amazing to be a part of.”

Some of the participants who traveled to North Goulburn to make a minyan at the funeral, and then helped to celebrate an unexpected "bar mitzvah" of a local resident in his 60s.