Former Mayor Edward I. Koch said on Monday that he planned to stay in Manhattan — for good.
Mr. Koch, who turned 83 in December, said that he had purchased a burial plot in Trinity Church Cemetery.
“The idea of leaving Manhattan permanently irritates me,” said Mr. Koch, who represented the East Side in the City Council and in Congress before being elected to the first of three terms as mayor in 1977.
Koch, Resolved to Spend Eternity in Manhattan, Buys a Cemetery Plot
Former Mayor Edward I. Koch said on Monday that he planned to stay in Manhattan — for good.
Mr. Koch, who turned 83 in December, said that he had purchased a burial plot in Trinity Church Cemetery.
“The idea of leaving Manhattan permanently irritates me,” said Mr. Koch, who represented the East Side in the City Council and in Congress before being elected to the first of three terms as mayor in 1977.
Trinity Church, part of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, operates a nondenominational cemetery at Broadway and 155th Street. Trinity describes the uptown cemetery as the only active cemetery in Manhattan that is still accepting burials.
Mr. Koch also said he had ordered a tombstone to “adorn my grave upon my death, which I hope won’t be for another 8 to 10 years.”
Carved on the tombstone is the most important prayer in Judaism, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One,” in English, Hebrew and a transliteration, and the last words of the journalist Daniel Pearl before he was murdered by Islamic terrorists: “My father is Jewish; my mother is Jewish; I am Jewish.”
Mr. Koch wrote about the inscriptions in his regular online commentary on Monday and elaborated about his burial plans in an interview.
He said he had recently paid $20,000 for the plot, a good investment, he explained, because the stock market, unlike the price of cemetery space, had since gone down.
The cemetery is on the site of one of the fiercest battles of the American Revolution. Trinity describes it as a grassy retreat, dotted by century-old elms and oaks, and “a special place of peace and tranquillity far from the chrome and glass towers of central Manhattan.”
Those buried include Clement Clarke Moore, who wrote “A Visit From St. Nicholas”; the artist and naturalist John James Audubon; the actor Jerry Orbach; and Mayor Fernando Wood, who proposed that the city secede from the Union during the Civil War and was later elected to Congress, where his colleagues censured him for intemperate remarks.
Trinity also operated the burial grounds of Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Chapel downtown, which include the graves of many historic figures.
Mr. Koch said he learned that space was available from Carl Weisbrod, who worked in his administration and is now president of Trinity Church’s real estate division.
A mausoleum at the cemetery offers above-ground niches and crypts, but only a few below-ground burial plots remain vacant. Cemetery officials said they were reserved for special citizens.
Mr. Koch chose a plot on what he described as a “small mountain” overlooking Amsterdam Avenue, and he researched the propriety of being buried in a non-Jewish cemetery.
“I called a number of rabbis to see if this was doable,” he said. “I was going to do it anyway, but it would be nice if it were doable traditionally.”
He said he had been advised to request that the gate nearest his plot be inscribed as “the gate for the Jews,” and the cemetery agreed.
He was also instructed to have rails installed around his plot, so he ordered them.
Being buried in Manhattan, Mr. Koch said, would also make it easier for former constituents to visit.
“I’m extending an open invitation,” he said.
reader
There was a rumor that his mother had a non-orthodox “conversion”.
Menachem Mendel
This is so sad
Mayor Ed Kotschke
Sad, yes, in that Koch is ignorant of the halachic implications as are so many Jews today, but great that nevertheless he asks that his Jewish identity be remembered forever even if it is done in an improper way.
Koch is very confused in more ways than one; he was one of the worst mayors the city ever had as far as Jews were concerned but in his later years he seems to be doing tshuva in his umm..rather weird way.
boruch ben Tzvi(A H)hakohaine hoffinger
B”H
Very fitting for him to choose a cemetery plot amongst non-Jews.
This shows you where his heart is.
a guy
When he will get up to the BAIS DIN SHEL MAALEH, he will be asked what did he accomplish? Then, YOSHKE will say, ER IZ EINER FUN UNZERER, I’ll take care of him!
Eli
What a nincompoop. Even in the twilight of his years he can’t bring himself to accept his Judaism, especially after living a pretty full life. What an idiot. Let him rot over there.
CM
Sad? I think it’s amazing!
To inscribe the Shema and his Jewishness on his tombstone? That shows you what’s important to the pintele Yid.
As Lubavitchers we look for the spark, not the smoke, so I’m surprised at some of the above comments… Besides if he does what the rabbis says, there’s no strict halachic problem.
Yisroel
When Koch had a radio show, he was once bested by a caller who -in response to Koch’s “kvelling” about the fact that they transplanted a baboon’s kidney into a man – said “But what about the fact that they transplanted a baboon’s brain into your head?” This article proves the caller was right. (At the time Koch’s only response was to call the guy a “schmuck”)
Give him a little creidt
I have to say I’m a bit disappointed in the comments.
Let us not forget he is NOT frum and doesnt know better. Let us also not forget for a “liberal Jew” it took a lot of guts for him to NOT side with his own party in 04 and continue to write security related articles about protecting Israel and the US from Muslim extremists and the dangers of Anti Semitism.
LET US ALSO NOT FORGET HOW MUCH HE ENJOYED SEEING THE REBBE. WOULD THE REBBE SPEAK OF HIM THIS WAY?
As someone who grew up NOT frum, I have NEVER seen a NON FRUM Jewish funeral where the person requested to have Shema writeen on their tombstone and try to coordinate how to make it Jewish in a goyish place. Most just put their name and stuff like that…. EVEN THE THE “REFORM RABBIS”…..AT LEAST KOCH IS TRYING TO MAKE A POSITIVE STATEMENT
I think at the very least, people who claim to be part of the group “CHABAD LUBAVITCH” should not view this act as an act of apikorisis and give the guy at least A LITTLE BIT of credit.
GROW UP!!!