A team of volunteer workers helped restore the Silverman stone to its rightful place.

“We thought it couldn’t be done,” said Lisa Vaeth, director of the Association of Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Hartford. But it could.  And it was. And so, Vaeth announced in a statement released earlier this week that “with the assistance and expertise of Paganelli Construction and United States Cemetery Services, the Silverman stone has been re-erected.” Vaeth, of course, was referring to the 6.000 lb stone that was installed in the late 1930s in the Jewish cemetery on Tower Ave. in Hartford, and was toppled when the cemetery was recently vandalized.  The stone was the largest and heaviest of the100 stones desecrated, and the Association had initially feared that there would not be equipment available powerful enough to lift it and restore it to its rightful place. But last week, powerful machinery was brought in and, with the help of a nine strong men, the stone was re-stored to itself rightful position.