This past week, Rabbi Danzinger, Chabad Rabbi to Rostov-on-don in southern Russia, heard word that a man from his community passed away in Moscow. Being that the man had no living relatives, he was registered to be cremated. Rabbi Danzinger reached out to friends in Moscow in the effort of stopping the process and allowing the man a Jewish burial. It was a challenging process, on account of the man having no relatives to speak for him.

Cremations, under those circumstances, are difficult to stop. However, when the officials in Moscow heard that the deceased’s mother was buried in a Jewish cemetery, they agreed to release his body on condition that he would be buried next to her. The body was sent from Moscow to Rostov, an eighteen-hour journey that had the coffin arrive on Friday, close to sundown. Rabbi Danzinger then ensured that he was buried right before Shabbat, next to his mother.