Levaya

Naftali breathed his last breath on Tuesday morning, November 19, 2025 as his son Dovid sat at his bedside at the Laks home in Passaic.  He had suffered a stroke on Simchas Torah three weeks before, had been discharged with the expectation that he would recover, but his body gradually shut down.  

The chevra kadisha (burial society) was called immediately and a graveside funeral was arranged that afternoon at King Solomon Cemetary in Clifton.  Naftali had pre-paid for the funeral and had filled in as much of the paperwork in advance as possible, because he had seen how difficult and time-consuming it had been for  his step-son Carl Guterman when his wife Eva had died.

Burial was done at a simple graveside ceremony.  Dovid and his sons Schabse and Moshe (Aryeh was in Boston) could not enter the cemetery because of their status as Cohanim (Cohens are not permitted by Jewish law to be in contact with the dead).  Instead, they stood on stools in a backyard that overlooked the cemetary, and Dovid eulogized his father from there.

Rabbi Schachne Weinberger of Khal Tiferes Boruch, the shul that Dovid attended, conducted the service.  Carl Guterman spoke, as well as the Rabbi Weinberger, and Dovid.  Old friends came from Elizabeth on short notice.  Newer friends from Passaic and the tri-state area also participated. It was an emotional funeral since Naftali was loved very much and highly respected by his family and the community.  The feeling of loss was real, since up to his stroke three weeks before, Naftali had had an active social life, over the phone and Zoom, aside from the friends and family who visited him regularly. 

The Levaya took place at King Solomon Memorial Park in Passaic, on Tuesday, November 19th, at 2:00 PM.  A recording is available here.

The grave is here, in the Khal Adath Jeshurun section of the cemetery.