Tambstone records

In the Jewish tradition, a gravestone is a matzeva - a tombstone stele, usually in the form of a vertically placed rectangular stone or wooden slab topped with a straight line, a triangle, a semicircle or two sections of a circle. Its upper part is filled with a bas-relief and the lower part with an inscription.

In the 17th century, a pattern of writing inscriptions on tombstones began to take shape. Obviously,

it is not only binding and may be modified, therefore tombstone texts may be differentiated in their structure on the basis of examinations of cemeteries' matzevot. One can take the stereotypical form of an epitaph.

1. Funeral formula.

2. Introduction.

3. Epithets of eulogy depicting the virtues of the deceased.

4. Name.

5. Date of death. Sometimes also the date of the funeral.

6. Termination.

Funeral formula. The beginning of almost every epitaph is the funeral formula "here he was buried". It usually appears as an abbreviation : ״נ פ You can also find abbreviations פ״ט - טמן פה ,,tu hidden" or rather טמנה פה ,,tu hidden" - as this form is most often found on gravestones of women. In some cemeteries in Poland the abbreviation : ״מ פ is found only on tombstones of women, it is the rule among Sephardic Jews.

The introduction is very often a biblical quotation or a sentence referring to it. The quote is placed on the top of the matzeva or begins the entire inscription. On many tombstones, this incipit reads:

(Rdz 31 , 52) המצבה ועדה הזה הגל עד

''The witness will be this mound and the witness will be this monument. ''

( Ps 119, 136) (מות (על עיני ירדו מים פלגי

''Streams of tears flowed from my eyes because of death. ''

Bible verses that contain allusions to the name of the deceased are often used, for example:

(Lb 2, 18 ) אפרים מחנה דגל

''The ensign of the camp of Ephraim. ''

( Rdz 18 , 33 ) למקמו שב אברהם

"Abraham returned to his place".

Quotations from the Talmud are also encountered. Among the most widespread is the inscription: טוב שם כתר - ''A crown of good name.'' This is a reference to a quotation from Pirke Avot ( 4, 17) , ''There are three crowns : the crown of the Law , the crown of the Priesthood and the crown of Authority, but the crown of a good name stands above them all. Titles of books also form an introduction on the tombstones. Among the most common are :

- Chumash (Pentateuch. ) חומש

- Sefer tehilim (Psalms) תהלים ספר

- Midrash מדרש

- Sidur korban micha (Prayer book ) מנחה קרבן סידור

On the tombstones of women occurs: וראינה צאינה ( Cene urene) , which is a homiletic paraphrase of the Pentateuch intended for women.

Epithets. Epithets of praise, listing the qualities of the deceased. Next to the words praising the deceased, all his titles are mentioned. That is, the dignities and offices he held. Often the qualities of the deceased are illustrated by short biblical quotations. For example, on the tombstones of men you can find :

( Hi 1, 8) וישר תם איש

"A noble and upright man '

( Ps 15:8) תמים הולך

, ''He acted without blemish. ''

For the women :

( Judg 5 , 24 ) תברך באהל מנשים

, ''Among the women in the tents, let her be blessed. ''

Of course, the quotations from the poem about the brave woman are the most common. :

( Proverbs 31:10) ימצא מי חיל אשת

''A brave woman, who can find? ''

Titles are most often given in abbreviated form, making them difficult to interpret. The most common title is מורנו , "Our Teacher" referring to a rabbi or scholar. It is common to use rows of introductions and epithets, to create acrostics, Whereby the initial words or letters of the lines form the name of the deceased and the name of his father. If the deceased was of the line of Aaron or was a Levite, the words הכהן or הלוי are added to the name. The letters that form the acrostic are most often distinguished in the inscription by size, a full stop or a stamp above the letter. When composing introductions and epithets they are often arranged in rhymes, i.e. a sound correspondence occurring mostly at the end of the poem. The plural endings ים and ות and the endings and ה and ת characteristic of the feminine generic morpheme are most often used for this purpose.

Name. There are no names on traditional tombstones. The identity of the deceased is determined by the form of dependency. For example, Abraham son of Judah Leah daughter of Isaac. Belonging to the tribe of Levites or a priestly line (Kohen) is also marked. Father's name or sometimes in women. The husband's name was the only indication of identification. It was only during the partitions that officials began to force the Jewish community to accept surnames. Despite the fact that the use of surnames became obligatory, despite the severe penalties imposed by the imperial patent in the event of a refusal, Jews remained faithful to the tradition in their Jewish cemeteries. Even at the end of the 19th century it was not common practice to put the name on matzevot. In cemeteries you can find tombstones even in the 20th century, which do not bear the name of the deceased, and if it is already given, it is usually below the proper inscription or on the second side of the matzevot. The name is often highlighted in the text with enlarged letters or a decorative frame. The names are usually accompanied by abbreviations that intercede for the dead. The most famous abbreviations are:

(לרכה זכרונו (ז״ל

,'May his memory be blessed ''

(לרכה צדיק זכר (זצ״ל

''May the memory of the righteous be blessed. ''

(השלום עליו (ע״ה

"May he rest in peace '

At the names of the father in women, also of the husband. Who are still alive, there is an abbreviation

(יאור נרו (״י"

''May his light continue to shine''

The names of further ancestors appear on the gravestones of people from well-known families. Sometimes the mention of all prominent ancestors makes up almost the entire inscription.

Date of death . An essential part of the text on a tombstone was the date of death the day of the month, often the day of the week, month and year according to the Jewish calendar. This calendar is based on a synthesis of the lunar and solar systems. The Jewish year has 12 or 13 months. In a 19 year cycle there are 12 years with 12 months and 7 with 13. (In leap years, the month of adar is counted twice. ) It was accepted to count the years from the medieval date of the creation of the world. ( 3761 B.C.) Thus the year 1993 according to the Jewish calendar is 5753. When recalculating the dates, it should be taken into account that the Jewish year begins with the month of tishri ( September/October). So now we have the year 5781. In cemeteries, the date of death is actually given without the number 1000, so קטן לפרט" , "According to a small count" . 693 means 5693 (1953) The date is written in the form appropriate to Hebrew graphics, i.e. using letters distinguished by dots or stamps (a letter corresponds to a numerical value) arranged from the largest value to the smallest. The use of letters sometimes led to the construction of anagrams, that is words formed by rearranging letters. In this way, for example, instead of 1860, i.e. תרך the word כתר,,Crown. '' Or instead of 1917, i.e. תרעז , the word עזרת,,aid''.

Sometimes the date of the funeral, which usually took place the day after the death, is also given on the tombstones. It is very rare to indicate the age of the deceased, even on tombstones from the interwar period. It was more common to use general expressions: "Man, old , "Young man or "Miss" or "Died in the prime of life

Conclusion.

The last part of the inscription is the ending in the form of a phrase concerning death and life after death. Many forms recognised in the Middle Ages remained practically one (present on almost all tombstones, often even on one where the inscription is in Polish, German and Yiddish).