Mother's resting place splits family with roots in Israel

Crouched close to the earth, Paul and Hanan Edery pulled weeds and clumps of grass with solemn deliberateness from the grave of their mother, Sultana, an orthodox Jew and Israeli citizen who died in February.

As they worked on a recent, brisk morning at a task they perform about once a month, so as not to disturb their mother's soul too often, their faces conveyed a confused pain.

"It's like you are lost," said Paul Edery, 57, of Montgomery Village, standing beside the Prince George's County plot. "I feel like I'm going to the wrong place."

That's because, the brothers say, their mother always wished to be buried in Israel. Their four siblings disagreed, and because they represented a majority of Sultana's children, a court in February granted authority to them. Sultana died days after the ruling, and her body rests in Mount Lebanon Cemetery in Adelphi.

Paul and Hanan have appealed, and the matter was heard recently in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, where M. Christina Hamilton, the attorney for Paul and Hanan's siblings, argued that the case was moot because Sultana was already buried.

But Paul and Hanan want the ruling overturned and are pursuing additional legal action to move Sultana's remains to Israel.

"The last thing I can do for my mom, for our mom, is to fulfill her wish," Hanan said.

As Sultana Edery, 86, lay dying and unable to speak early this year in intensive care, her children were bitterly divided over her burial wishes. After taking Paul and Hanan to Montgomery County Circuit Court, the pair's siblings -- Shlomo, David, Michael Ben-Canaan and Hanna Ben-Yehouda -- secured a permanent injunction that barred the two brothers from moving the body after Sultana's death.

Judge Robert A. Greenberg's ruling centered on a little-known Maryland law that governs who makes burial decisions in the absence of a will. Under certain conditions, if the spouse is deceased, the authority falls to the majority of the person's children, the law states.

Paul and Hanan, who represented themselves in the case, have since hired an attorney, Eric H. Singer. They hope to send their mother's remains to Be'er Sheva, a city southwest of Jerusalem, and say they are willing to bear the expense. Sultana's husband, Joseph, and son Avi are buried there, and Paul and Hanan say she requested to be buried near them.

In a statement, Hamilton declined to comment, saying the siblings believe that Sultana would not have wanted them to discuss the pending appeal publicly.

But Ben-Canaan, who testified on behalf of his three siblings, said in court that Sultana wished to be buried near relatives in Maryland.