AURORA — The heavy moisture this spring has had a rather unsettling effect on some traditional Jewish burial plots.
The 3 inches of moisture over the past month eased droughtlike conditions but worsened the typical settling in some cemeteries, causing graves to sink as much as a foot.
Those who follow traditional Jewish burial practices typically do not use concrete vaults to enclose caskets. Unsealed wooden caskets are placed directly in the ground, which allows the body to return to the earth.
Without much protection, the caskets sink. That has left those who go there to grieve friends and loved ones feeling just awful.
On Sunday, Heidi Oaklief visited the grave of a friend’s son, who was buried at Mt. Nebo Memorial Park in Aurora. What she found was a cemetery riddled with gaping holes, looking more like a field that had been attacked by an army of prairie dogs.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Oaklief said. “If I was a family member walking up and seeing this on Sunday, I would have been appalled. In my opinion, there is no excuse for leaving them like that.”
Mt. Nebo’s caretaker, John Barber, said about 200 gravesites have sunk.
Those that suffered the most damage had not yet been sodded. But even some well-established plots that have been capped with grass have dropped up to 8 inches because they are not vaulted.
“It’s an ongoing battle, no matter how hard I try,” said Barber, who receives complaints daily. “People are going to have to be patient.”
Neil Price, executive director of the Jewish Orthodox Golden Hill Cemetery near Golden, says traditional cemeteries close graves with a dirt mound that is not compacted, because the coffins are made from wood, with no metal — not even nails — and compacting the soil could break the casket.
They let the mound settle, and then, the following spring, the dirt is compacted and sod is placed over it.
“People who were buried last year, their graves have sunk between 2 to 7 inches. That’s pretty typical,” Price said, noting that the same thing happens during dry periods.
At the Emanuel Cemetery within Fairmount Cemetery in Denver, executive director Janet Bronitsky said the Reform, more liberal congregation there uses a bell vault, which is vaulted on three sides but open on the bottom.
“This enables the body to return to the earth but makes it so it doesn’t collapse on itself,” Bronitsky said.
Barber said the heavy snow in April made things even worse, and he’s the only one there doing the work. Still, with drier weather on the way, he hopes to catch up soon.
“When the snow just sits there and melts slowly, it sinks much deeper,” Barber said. “Every rainstorm, every snowstorm, it just sinks.”
