As a history buff, I enjoy traveling to historical places in the Hudson Valley. I am in awe of those who fought for our Freedom in the Revolutionary War. It is so easy to drive up and down the hills and valleys where our militiamen marched in fighting the British - but just remember they walked. Rain, snow, heat,,,bugs, manure, etc. They walked. Amazing.
I also enjoy traveling to historical cemeteries. I read the headstones and wonder what that individual's life was like. How did that person live? How did they die?
Recently I had a most unusual experience that I would like to share. I often go to Monsey to shop for kosher food. I travel the Palisades Parkway to exit 13 and travel up Route 309 to the heart of Monsey's kosher food district. Along the way there is a cemetery for the Hasidic sect of Vishnitz. They rest in peace. However, it was not so when Vishnitzer Jews lived in the Ukraine prior to 1948. They neither lived in peace, nor died in peace. Pogroms and the Holocaust decimated their numbers. Coming to America, they were able to settle and live their lives without fear of slaughter simply because they were Jews.
Did you know that around the corner from the Vishnitzer cemetery is a Revolutionary War cemetery? There...laid to rest, are patriots who fought in the Revolutionary War. They died so that their descendents could live in freedom, not fear. How ironic that just around the corner from those Jews who have been laid to rest, are those who died so that whomever called America home could practice their religion freely....without fear.
Marsha Sternstein
