New technology — ground-penetrating radar — is being used to search for the graves of tzaddikim on the site of a destroyed Jewish cemetery in Mielec, Poland, where for the past few years Chasidim have been trying to identify the burial places of Yaakov Horowitz (also called “The Minor Baal Shem Tov”), the son of Naftali Horowitz from Ropczyce, who was the founder of the Chasidic dynasty in Mielec; and his descendants Yehuda and Naftali.
Virtual Shtetl tells the fascinating story.
It is known that [the three tzaddikim] were buried in south-western part of the cemetery in Mielec, on Jadernych Street. Two ohels were built at their graves. During WWII, Germans plundered the cemetery. In the early 1960s, the Communists ordered that a post office be built in the cemetery plot. The graves were razed. Any visible traces over ground were wiped away. Presently, the former land holds a storied block of flats, which is the property of the post, a car park and a lawn. […]
Jewish law does not allow any archaeological digs in cemeteries. Therefore new technology was required. Last Monday, a group of visitors equipped with a ground-penetrating radar arrived in Mielec.
The task was all but easy. There are many electric cables and pipes in the ground. Additionally, many graves were destroyed during construction works. Nevertheless, the ground penetrating radar detected what is probably foundations of two small buildings. They may be the remains of the ohels of the tzaddikim.
Read the full article on Virtual Shtetl