The Heartwarming Quest to Restore Forgotten Headstones

The moment Michael Michel Vaknin stood alone before the small grave, he felt utterly shattered. In the children's section at the edge of the old cemetery, he found himself bent over a forsaken marble tombstone, broken into pieces, its inscription faded and erased. Wiping away tears of sorrow, he embarked on a mission that, over recent years, has become his life's work: restoring headstones on a volunteer basis.

Vaknin, a businessman and real estate developer from Tel Aviv, vividly recalls his first encounter with cemeteries. "I arrived at an old cemetery in Tel Aviv, and for a moment, it felt as though those buried there had been entirely forgotten," he shares in an interview with Hidabroot. "Years have passed since their deaths, and there's no one to care for their graves. The marble is broken, the engravings are erased, the candleholders shattered, and the area is generally dirty and abandoned. When I saw this, it pained me deeply."

True Kindness

The first phase of Vaknin's project was to visit cemeteries and clean the neglected graves. "These graves are so isolated and forsaken that there's not even a trace of recent cleaning or candles lit on them. I'd arrive in the early afternoon, first wash and clean the tombstone. Then I'd restore the erased inscription, light a candle, and recite a chapter of Psalms for the soul of the deceased.

"And so, I'd move from one tombstone to another, with my heart breaking each time. These are not simple moments where I say to myself: these were people like us, ones who didn't stop running in the unending marathon of life, but eventually, they ended up here and were forgotten."

"Truthfully, my involvement didn't start with cemeteries," he says. "Long before, I spent a significant period volunteering to transfer bodies for the Chevra Kadisha from Beilinson Hospital. I'd ensure the respect of the deceased was maintained, and recite chapters of Psalms and Mishnas nearby."

Vaknin recounts how performing chesed shel emet (true kindness) is part of his family tradition; he was brought up in this culture. "For many years, my grandmother volunteered in purifying bodies," he shares about his inspiration. "She was a righteous woman who rose each morning with a sole purpose: to practice true kindness."

All Beginnings Are Hard

Vaknin's saintly grandmother is just one branch in his family's extensive lineage. The Vaknin family is tied to many Moroccan righteous figures, such as Rabbi Raphael Ankwa zt”l, nicknamed "The Angel Raphael," and Rabbi Amram Ben Diwan zt”l. Beyond that, the family has enjoyed a close and special connection with the righteous of the Abuhatzeira family, led by Sidna Baba Sali zt”l. "My father was like a son in his home," Vaknin recalls emotionally.

Within his personal project, Vaknin invests substantial resources into repairing and renovating the graves of saints. "As of now, we've restored dozens of graves of the world's holy ones who passed centuries ago," he comments. "These are graves of holy individuals whose name alone is a merit, but since time has passed since their deaths, their sections have become neglected and dirty.

"Cleaning these graves is not enough," Vaknin stresses the complexity. "They are public places that require ongoing maintenance to preserve the site's dignity. Especially in these places, the beginning is more challenging, as we have to conduct an extensive, initial cleanup that hasn't been done in years."

Renewing inscriptions on tombstones

What follows the cleaning stage?

"The installation of signs directing to the landmarks. Many of the graves of saints are located at the outskirts of cemeteries, making them hard to find without direction. Typically, these locations are dimly lit, relying solely on natural light. During winter, when darkness falls early, worshippers are scarce. We've installed solar lights for the public's ease and the saints' honor.

"A very important tradition at the graves of saints is lighting candles for their souls. In my cemetery visits, I came across graves without any candleholders, and others with old or broken ones. We replaced them with new, larger ones.

Vaknin points out, "Not only religious individuals visit the graves; those seemingly distanced from faith, without a prayer book or kipah, come as well. We've installed bookshelves and replenished them with prayer books and kippot for public use. We also placed charitable boxes to encourage giving charity in the saints' honor."

"My Heart Broke Twice"

In recent years, Vaknin's tombstone restoration project focuses mainly on cemeteries in central Israel, such as Tel Aviv and Givatayim. "In the infants' and children's sections, I encounter graves of children who passed away in their first days of life," he narrates painfully. "I see century-old graves now dirty and neglected, and it breaks my heart."

Share with us a particularly painful experience.

"In one of my visits to the infants' and children's section, I spotted a small stone on the outskirts, with barely legible faded writing. I brushed off the accumulated dust and found it was a headstone of a year-old baby girl who died in 1939. Her grave was nothing more than a small concrete casting, which deeply pained me. It broke my heart to see the condition of a righteous baby's headstone, who never sinned.

"This section sat on sandy ground. Over time, the rain and mud covered parts, risking possibly stepping on stones unknowingly. I started clearing the sand around the baby's tombstone and, as I did, I discovered another baby's grave completely buried beneath the sand. My heart broke twice."

Installing bookshelves at the graves of the righteous: 'Not everyone arrives with a kippah and a prayer book'

That must have been an especially painful moment.

"Indeed," Vaknin admits, shedding a tear. "It took me a few moments to recover from the shock and pain before I began thoroughly cleaning both tombstones. Once finished, I elevated the tombstones slightly and installed sand barriers around them. We restored the graves and refreshed their inscriptions. Then, we lit a candle and recited chapters of Psalms for the souls."

Your mission requires great sensitivity. How do you cope with the routine's wear and tear?

"There is no burnout where there is kindness. This is a sacred goal, a project I started long ago and have gradually intensified. Like everything else, I began this venture small, but with time, it became a way of life.

"I have many moving moments along the way, so burnout doesn't find a place within me. I'll never forget one day when I picked my daughter up early from school, and instead of asking to go to the beach or shopping at the mall, she asked, 'Dad, let's clean the cemetery and light candles for the deceased.' Her request moved me profoundly, to the point I could barely contain the emotion."

Installing directional signs to the graves of the righteous

Do It Yourself

Vaknin reveals plans to expand the tombstone restoration project to other locations nationwide and continue other acts of kindness, like renovating synagogues and distributing food to those in need. "We've already begun distributing food to needy families, and my dream is to initiate birthday parties and Bar Mitzvah celebrations for orphaned children," he shares.

'Part of the tradition': replacing and installing a candleholder

"True kindness is the highest form of kindness, but it's not wise to pay someone to do it for you. The wisdom is in doing the kindness yourself, making the effort and sweating for it, because in the world to come, our only standing will be determined solely by our actions and efforts.

"If we wake up every morning with the sole purpose of enhancing kindness in the world, our lives will undoubtedly look different. Instead of wasting time," he concludes, "we can engage in true kindness and secure our share in the world to come."