FLORIDA: Sarasota Attorneys Declare Pohibition of Creamation of Jewish Holocaust Survivor “ABSURD”

It seems that millennia of Jewish law which forbids incineration of Jewish bodies is not fashionable in certain elite Sarasota legal circles; it is, in fact, “absurd,” according to top attorneys and partners at Williams Parker Attorneys at Law, Mark A. Schwartz and Bonnie Lee Ann Polk, both of whom were amongst SRQ Magazine’s 2025 Elite Top Attorneys list.

In their recent filing before Sarasota Probate Judge Charles E. Williams, Schwartz and Polk denigrated the bedrock Jewish law that prohibits cremation, labelling it as some sort of absurd prohibition against the [Holocaust Survivor] Decedent being cremated. Schwartz and Polk representing Corporate Personal Representative of the Estate of Marie Lubowski Winkelman falsely represented in their filing, attached, that the cremation of Marie Winkelman was “in accordance with her own wishes as determined in the guardianship court, and [in] compliance with the Decedent’s wishes as determined in the guardianship court,” when the attorneys knew that Judge Charles E. Williams, former Chief Judge, had promptly signed the Order for cremation sought by Robert Scheb for Sabal Trust/Hancock Whitney Bank. In truth, the guardianship court (1) never held any hearing, (2) never received any sworn testimonies in support of Marie’s cremation (which occurred 10 years later), (3) never sought advisement from Jewish authorities on Jewish , (4) never permitted Dr. Beverly Newman to present sworn eyewitness evidence of Marie’s wishes for her body upon her death, and (5) never received any sworn evidence, in accordance with law, that Marie Winkelman wished to be cremated.

Marie Winkelman, whose family was incinerated in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, was always traumatized at the thought of cremation, having witnessed the inferno on the Warsaw Ghetto that left her family, neighbors, schoolmates, and entire Jewish community without graves, proper Jewish funerals and burials,

The only material matter of Marie Winkelman’s earthly existence left by the Sarasota court is Marie’s money, which millions have been largely consumed by attorney fees beginning in 2013 that forced Marie into a corporate guardianship under the control of persons totally unfamiliar to her. Facing a blighted future of uncertainty, Marie sought comfort and guidance from her Holocaust Survivor advocate, Dr. Beverly Newman, who pleaded for Marie’s dignity through the present and for Marie’s rites and rights as a Jew.

SARASOTA ATTORNEYS DECLARE PROHIBITION AGAINST CREMATION OF JEWISH HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR “ABSURD”

Since when can a probate judge order the total elimination of a Holocaust Survivor known as “erasive antisemitism,” that negates the identity and religious rights of a Jew?

Since when does the Jewish community stand silent in the face of desecration of Jewish bodies, such that nothing identifiable is left of Marie Winkelman and Marie’s ashes – like her family’s — are somewhere, anywhere, everywhere?

Since when does a Jew not deserve Chevra Kadisha guarding of the body, washing, and preparation for proper Jewish burial, Jewish prayers, a white shroud, a pine casket, a proper Jewish funeral and burial, minyan, shiva, Kaddish prayers, gravesite in a Jewish cemetery, a eulogy, gravestone, an obituary – none of which Marie Winkelman received for her miraculous bravery in the Holocaust, decades of being married to fellow Holocaust Survivors and widowed twice, beautiful artworks, unmatched generosity and kindnesses for others, and loving autobiographical legacy for the world to know her own tragedies and treks upward?

Since when can “Elite Top Attorneys” denigrate bedrock Jewish law as “some sort of absurd prohibition” against incinerating a Jew and a Jew’s rights and rites to be treated with dignity?

Beverly Newman’s Motion includes a long, meandering narrative that falsely and illogically attempts to boot-strap the horrors of the Holocaust into some sort of absurd prohibition against the [Holocaust Survivor] Decedent being cremated upon her death in accordance with her own wishes [with no hearing, no testimonies, and no sworn evidence of Marie Winkelman’s wishes] as determined in the guardianship court, and that compliance with the Decedent’s wishes as determined in the guardianship court somehow constitutes antisemitism and by extension grounds to remove the Personal Representative

Signed

By:/s/ Mark A. Schwartz Mark A. Schwartz, Esquire Florida Bar No. 0064367 Bonnie Lee A. Polk, Esquire Florida Bar No. 0030678 50 Central Avenue, Eighth Floor Sarasota, Florida 34236 Tel: (941) 366-4800 Fax: (941) 366-5109 Attorneys for Hancock Whitney Bank as Personal Representative of the Estate of Marie L. Winkelman

Williams Parker Attorneys at Law

October 24, 2024

Williams Parker attends AJC 2024 lunch and learn on Jewish affairs

We were honored to attend the AJC

American Jewish Committee 2024 Lunch & Learn, where International Expert Belle Yoeli shared invaluable insights on the State of Jewish Affairs: Around the World with AJC!

Our attendees, Emma Onesti, Claudia Gesiotto, Mark Schwartz, and Gail Farb, were proud to represent Williams Parker. We are grateful to have sponsored this event and support the important work of AJC.

Mark Schwartz

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Sarasota’s “Elite Top Attorneys” have fed local, national, and global “erasive antisemitism” by deprecating as “absurd” millennia of bedrock Jewish law to bury every Jew with dignity and purity for her afterlife, when her bones will be rejoined together with her sinews and flesh and skin and the breath of life.

Ezekiel 37

The Valley of Dry Bones

The Valley of Dry Bones: Ezekiel’s …

37 The hand of the L-rd was on me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the L-rd and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Sovereign L-rd, you alone know.”

4 Then He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the L-rd! 5 This is what the Sovereign L-rd says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the L-rd.’”

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

9 Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign L-rd says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

11 Then He said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign L-rd says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the L-rd, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the L-rd have spoken, and I have done it, declares the L-rd.’”

But Marie Winkelman has no bones, sinews, flesh, or skin and no grave.

©2026 Beverly Newman, Ed. D. All rights reserved.