The entry of the cemetery that has a fence around it marked with a Star of David.
Above is the memorial stone for the cemetery. This stone is important because by placing this stone in the cemetery, the local government is required to upkeep it.
On our first day in the cemetery, May 22nd, we spent time finding and uprighting tombstones that had writing on them because an integral part of our work in the cemetery was being able to archive the names of those who had been buried there. The next day, May 23rd, Professor/ Rabbi Laura Lieber read the tombstones for the archiving process.
There are several integral elements on Jewish tombstones that involve Hebrew. First, I am inserting a chart of the Hebrew alphabet. The first line that typically appears on all tombstones reads פּ’נ meaning “here lies.” Following this phrase is typically the name of the person who has been buried there to rest with a personal phrase connecting to who they were. Often, in the case of a woman’s burial, her father’s name is also engraved on the tombstone. Within the women’s tombstones that were catalogued, one of them read: “daughter of our teacher, our rabbi Noah.” This style allows for a record of not only the woman who is buried, but also of someone from her family another generation prior to her burial, giving more history from the few words that are found on the tombstone.
After the name on the tombstone and personal phrase connecting to the person’s life, generally, the day, month, and year of their death is recorded. The month and year originate from the Hebrew calendar. I have inserted a chart which gives Hebrew months a Gregorian calendar equivalent. Of the tombstones on which the month could be deciphered, Iyar and Nisan came up frequently. Iyar falls around April/May during the Jewish holiday of Yom HaAtzmaut and Nisan falls in March/April which is during Passover.
Following the day and month on the tombstone is the year of death. For years, the Jewish calendar starts at year one with the Creation of the World. The Creation of the World was based on the design of Hillel II who calculated the age of the world by trying to figure out the ages of characters from the Bible and other Biblical events, resulting in a calendar that beings 3760 years before the Christian calendar along which time is arranged in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. In the cemetery, the years found on the tombstones fell around 200 years ago. Some of the tombstones catalogued were from 5566 or 1806, 211 years ago, 5590 or 1830, 187 years ago, and 5600 or 1839/40, 178 years ago, etc. Letters in the Hebrew alphabet have numerical value, so to figure out the year on the tombstone, you have to figure out the numerical value of each letter and add them up. There is a chart inserted below showing the Hebrew alphabet letters numerical equivalents.
At the end of some tombstones in the cemetery was also the phrase ת נ צ ב ה meaning “May his soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life,” which is from the first book of Samuel 25:29.
Following are the tombstones that were decipherable and able to be catalogued.
“…” and “(?)” indicates indecipherable sections of the tombstones some of which were difficult to read because very fancy script and raised script is more difficult to decipher as opposed to text that is carved down into the stone.
Heres lies a woman Fruma
Daughter of …. Year 5640(?)
Here lies Rachel daughter of our teacher, our rabbi Noah
Who Died on the 19th of … in the year of …
Here lies …. Son of Hiem
The year 5568
Here lies Yahuda Levi son of the club member/association member/scholar
Rabbi Yosef who died in the year 5566 (211 years ago, 1806)
Here lies murdered (?) Ben Morenu (son of our teacher hypothetical) Eliemella
Son of Moshe (?) He died in 5580 (1820s)
Here lies Master Moses the son of Master Naftali
Who died on the 20th day of Iyar in the year 5590 (187 years old)
Here lies Rabbi Sulliman Son of Our Teacher, Katriel (a Yiddish name from this period) (respected for his learning, but not necessarily a rabbi) on the 16th in the month of Tevet in the year of 5600 (1839/40)
Here lies Moses who died in the month of Nisan 5640 according to the common reckoning (shortened form of the year)
Here lies Rabbi Abraham son of Yacob he died on the 25th of Adar
“May You Have Mercy” year unclear
“May his soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life”
Upon this is the Spirit of the Son (reference to the father) Yahuda Hiem… the pure youth
He died on the 10th of the month of Iyar in the year 5685
“May his soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life”
Here lies Hiem Benyahudda
He died on the 10th of the month of Tevet the year of 5653 (according to the abbreviated date)
“May his soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life”
Here lies a woman Maura
Daughter of …. Yacub who died 11th of Shevat in the year 5600 (1839/40)
Here lies my father who will rest
Joshua …. Son of …. Yosef (a personal name?) Who died in the month of Nisan the day of … the year of 5673 (1917)
“May his soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life”
(more modern Ashkenazi phrase)
Here lies a woman Mena Fiva (a Yiddish name) daughter of Mosha Kilanamos (Askenazi name)
She died in the month of Iyar… a date in the month of Iyar… who departed in the 5600s (between 1839-1939)
