Photos of RiVa Vaiva of Headstones that she has uncovered
RiVa Vaiva is
a resident of Jurbarkas, Lithuania, who
has been volunteering her time and energy over the several years to
uncovering, cleaning, painting, and restoring tombstones in the Yurburg Jewish Cemetery. The families and
friends whose ancestors are buried at the Cemetery are grateful to RiVa, who has tirelessly and single-handedly
restored dignity and sanctity to these sacred and historical grounds.
Though there are few descriptions along with the images, one can
clearly see that the images themselves tell the stories of how they
were dug up, cleaned and re-inscribed by Riva. Also shown is how
the overgrowth has been cleared, exposing even more buried
headstones. RiVa is working with the
local authorities to accomplish this monumental work. The "Friends
of the Yurburg Jewish Cemetery" are deeply indebted to RiVa
and those in the community who are helping with this work.
Directions:
Click on one of the links below and then click on the first photo,
then go to the near top and click on "next picture" to advance to the
next, and then continue to see all in that group.
Note especially the re-inscribing that Riva has been doing and that she
has been digging up buried headstones.
First
Photos from the Old Jewish Cemetery
Photos
from the area that Riva called the "Suez Canal"
Photos
from 2007
Photos
from 2008
Photos
from 2009
Photos
from 2010
Additional
photos from 2010
Photos
from 2011
Photos from 2012
Photos from 2013
Photos
of RiVa working on a headstone
Below is
the translation of an article about RiVa
and her work that appeared in a local paper in 2007:
Regional Lithuanian Weekly Newspaper “Sviesa (Light).” August 18, 2007 Saturday #62
Page 5
Rita Vaiva is Preserving
the Past of the Jurbarkas Jews
On the east side of Jurbarkas,
on the slope of the hill on the Neman (Neiman) River, there is the old
Jewish cemetery on occasion attracting a curious passerby.
However, none of the Jurbarkas residents
would be able to understand what the Hebrew letters carved on the
monuments would mean. That is why it is no wonder that this remote page
in Jurbarkas history and this tranquil
corner has never attracted more than a fleeting glance.
This year under the leadership of a rabbi, a group of
Dartmouth college students from the United
States have arrived to do some work here. The students have
constructed a metal fence and researched the cemetery, photographing
the tombstones. The material will be systematically organized and
will be made available to all [on the Internet]. Part of the data
gathered during this unusual expedition has been announced on the
Internet already. There is one Jurbarkas
woman who has been working in this cemetery for a few years on her own
initiative. This person is Rita Vaiva.
In spite of the fact, that some of the Jurbarkas
residents, having seen her picture, will state that this is not her
real name, she wants to be introduced to the community as Rita Vaiva.
Since 2003, Rita Vaiva comes to
the old Jewish Cemetery almost every day and works meticulously
restoring the inscriptions on the monuments. We can immediately
reassure the more distrustful reader that Rita Vaiva,
without any doubt, comes from a Lithuanian family and does not have any
Jewish roots.
“As I was growing up I liked to take a stroll on the shores
of the Neiman River. I would stop by the mysterious Jewish
cemetery, - remembers Rita Vaiva.
The illegible inscriptions intrigued me. During my visits I
unconsciously began to think that the centuries-old inscriptions carved
in stone might remain unread forever because there are no more Jewish
people in Jurbarkas, because they faced a
tragic destiny, and there is no one who would take interest in that
part of the cultural heritage of our town. The memory of the Jurbarkas Jews who were shot, killed and buried
in the mass burial place together with other members of the community
is preserved, but the same cannot be said about the care and respect of
the resting place of the Jews who lived in Jurbarkas
in earlier times. This cultural heritage and the memories of
these people were all but lost with the passage of time due to lack of
knowledge of the Hebrew language.”
We may ask why it was lost with “passage of time.” Rita Vaiva knows the answer. According to tradition,
Jews consider that from the beginning of creation this is the year
5766. When you come to a place like that you get into a different time
frame where the past is marked by a monument, while the town of Jurbarkas and the world outside the cemetery
fence become a different reality, the one you can leave behind just by
opening the cemetery gate.
According to Rita Vaiva, her
childhood dream of being able to read the inscription on the monuments
began to come true when she lived in Vilnius and came across an
advertisement which announced that the Jewish organization “Sochnut” (The Jewish Agency) was
organizing Hebrew language courses for Jews who were departing to
Israel. The Lithuanian woman who started to attend the courses did not
encounter any suspicion. She also did not have to fill out any
personal forms for departure to Israel. As her first teacher Chaia Aronovitch
was disclosing the riches of the Hebrew language to her students,
following an open and sincere conversation with the Lithuanian woman,
she began to pay more attention to her.
Rita Vaiva
has almost completed the work on this monument
(Color version of black and white on
the article)
According to Rita Vaiva the
Hebrew language is not only ancient but also complex. The letters
are unusual, written from right-to-left; however one year of study led
to some knowledge of the language. This knowledge was still not
sufficient. “I felt that my childhood dream was slowly coming true and
I attended evening courses for another two years until I realized that
the Hebrew language is no longer foreign to me.”
According to Rita when she returned to the old Jewish
cemetery it was as if the monuments began to talk to her. “They said
‘Hello’ to me and began to tell me their stories” – this is how Rita Vaiva describes her visit to the cemetery. “This
could have been my fate or just a fluke, however everything has a
reason, and it was if someone took me by the hand and led me to that
day. The inscriptions had a spirit of another culture and told
stories of not only one person but whole families and their relatives,
and all this was expressed in just a few sentences, carved in
moss-covered monuments, opening up in front of me.”
As if on its own, a thought was born to try and preserve all
of that.
“People climb mountains, sail high seas and oceans, fly in
the skies and jump in parachutes trying to learn about the world and no
one is surprised, - says Rita Vaiva. I
decided to devote part of my life and my leisure to the implementation
of my dream – to preserve a small part of Jurbarkas
past and not allow that past to melt away with the passage of time. In
2003, exclusively on my own initiative, I began the work and found
profound meaning in it.”
Rita Vaiva
restored inscriptions on the monuments stands out among the yet
untouched stones of the cemetery
(Color version of black and white on
the article)
The same way as one person is not like the other, one stone
is different from the other. Monuments made in polished stone were for
the richer people but many stone cutters
would paint the inscriptions in different colors on treated stone –
that was the Jewish tradition, and this trait can still be seen in Jurbarkas today. The part of the cemetery
that is devoid of shrubs and trees contains 500 monuments. Quite
a few of the monuments have fallen on the ground. Others were
buried under decades-old overgrowth. Rita Vaiva
said that the oldest and most valuable part of the cemetery is the part
that is closest to the Neman River. The further you go towards
the southern part of the cemetery, the older are the engraved dates on
the monuments, taking you back to the beginning of the 19th
century and earlier times. This part of the cemetery is covered
with trees and shrubs. It awaits its
turn when it too will be joined to the part of the cemetery that is now
visible and it too will be a witness to the Jurbarkas
past.
Rita repainting the tombstone
inscriptions
(Picture not used in the article)
It is not that easy to restore the old inscriptions.
Rita Vaiva has accumulated some knowledge
and experience. She carefully researched the inscriptions
on the monuments. She polished and washed the monuments with a
small brush and scrubbed the overgrown stones with a knife. She
consulted with restoration specialists and discovered that there was
not much experience in working with painted stone. Rita Vaiva walks through uncharted territory, as she
is hesitant to use aggressive chemical components without full
knowledge of its success. Only in the last couple of years she
could speed up her work when construction workers suggested trying some
known materials and test simple technologies. However, until one
monument is prepared for a renewal of its inscription she has to spend
a month of her leisure time. The inscriptions are renewed in
acrylic paint, and to brighten up a line takes approximately one
hour. When the paint dries up she fixes it with an
environmentally resistant lacquer. That is how slowly the
forgotten history of Jurbarkas is coming
back, and this history stands out among yet untouched gray monuments
that have until now not spoken.
Rita Vaiva states that the
distinctive quality of a Jewish monument is in that it does not state
the date of birth, only the date of death
although there are a few exceptions, and one may come across these
exceptions by looking at monuments dating back to later periods between
the two wars. The text of the inscriptions is very tender and
sensitive, directly or indirectly showing who built the monument and
sometimes even who manufactured the stone. Monuments for children and
teenagers were usually smaller and some did not carry an
inscription. Perhaps there was an inscription in paint at some
point, but it has disappeared with elapsing times.
Joel Alpert, who arrived together with the students from the
United States, stated that “this cemetery is one of the more unique
undestroyed cemeteries, and it deserves exclusive attention”.
Rita Vaiva’s research and restoration work
is very valuable. Joel Alpert compiled a book [translated from Hebrew
and published] presenting the past of Jurbarkas
Jews, and gathering a lot of historical evidence
which tells about these residents of Jurbarkas.
Rita repainting the tombstone
inscriptions
(Picture not used in the article)
“I wanted to meet Joel Alpert a long time ago, and it finally
happened, - says Rita Vaiva - he knows so
much about Jurbarkas past, and people who
were close to him are buried in this cemetery. He provided me with
answers I was seeking. After the expedition of the Americans from
Dartmouth College, I do not feel alone any longer. I feel part of a
larger and stronger team, and my work is now recognized and valued.
We hope that the personal initiative of a native Jurbarkas resident Rita Vaiva,
whose purpose is to save the cultural heritage of the town, will gain
more attention.
Vincas Krisciunas
Copyright © 2011
by Joel Alpert
Created Jan. 2011 | Last modified November
27, 2012
Webmaster:
Joel
Alpert
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