This message was from an alumni who lost his father in the days before Rosh Hashanah after a long and debilitating illness.
I need to let you know of a wonderful mitzvah that happened at the cemetery (the burial took place in Queens and the funeral was in Monsey) because of your email. There were friends and family who came. As we pulled up I saw someone. I said to myself “Boy, he looks family but I can’t place him”. First, I thought maybe he’s my brothers friend. Then I said no, he is from Shabbos House. This man I haven’t seen or spoken with in over 10 years came to the burial. As I talked to him I started to remember and finally the name came to me. As we went to the grave and we started filling it in, I stood next to my mother and she ask who he was. I told her and she looked at me and smiled. She said that’s so nice that he came. It really and truly made an impact on my mother. And then I felt it. Maybe more than anyone else who came. Just the pure pure kindness of this mitzva. His kindness may have had one of the biggest impacts on my experience. Not at the time but now at 4:30 in the morning as I woke up and am thinking about and remembering the day.
I thank everyone who came. There were other alumni friends there. It is truly an amazing mitzva to do this for the departed and the family. But I think he may have gotten the biggest mitzva at that cemetery. For it made the impact feel more real that the Jewish people as a whole unite for one another, we are there for each other. I will post this on my Facebook minus the part about his name as I would like to keep his name to myself. Please thank him for me and my family. It was a big Mitzvah of course, but the impact was even greater than that.