#tombstone historic jewish cemetary

[magnetothemagnificent]

One of the things I really love about Judaism is how we put stones on our loved ones graves. I love that I can have a permanent way of saying I love you and you haven’t been forgotten. Flowers are beautiful but it’s no permanent. I love that I can go to a cemetery and see who’s visited often just by how many stones that are there. I think it’s very beautiful

Yeah, it's really beautiful. Flowers wilt and decay, but stones are forever.

A few years ago my family and I went on a roadtrip of the American Southwest (our destination was the Grand Canyon, but we made a lot of sightseeing stops along the way and back). We stopped at Tombstone, because my dad is a huge fan of Western films, and I had done some research beforehand and learned there was a historic Jewish cemetery there. Of course, we wanted to pay our respects, but most of the staff there had no idea what we were talking about when we asked about the Jewish cemetery. Finally, someone was able to tell us that it was off of an overgrown path off the main cemetery. We found the Jewish cemetery, and learned that the cemetery had been destroyed years ago, with the walls and tombs taken to build houses. It was largely forgotten for many years, until Lawrence Huerta, a member of the Yaqui tribe, realized its significance in around the 1970s-80s and notified the nearby Jewish community in Arizona. The Yaqui offered their solidarity with the Jewish community, and helped to build a memorial on the site of the cemetary. The graves had long been destroyed, so no one really knows how many people are buried there, and according to Jewish law no one wants to excavate it, because it's not necessary knowledge. Now, a memorial stands there, and it's mostly a very large mound of stones with a plaque. My family and I prayed there and left more stones.

This is a photo I took of it. We didn't go any closer, because we didn't want to accidentally step over any graves. But we left lots of stones on the ruins of the walls.

Anyway, it really moved me to see this incredible memorial and to have the oppurtunity to pay my respects to those forgotten.

Stones are forever.

[id in alt text]

[sciencespies]

Pet Cemeteries Reveal Evolution of Humans' Relationships With Furry Friends

https://sciencespies.com/news/pet-cemeteries-reveal-evolution-of-humans-relationships-with-furry-friends/

Pet Cemeteries Reveal Evolution of Humans' Relationships With Furry Friends

In 1881, Cherry the Maltese terrier was laid to rest in Hyde Park in London. “Poor Cherry. Died April 28. 1881,” the epitaph on her tombstone read. Cherry was the first pet buried in the park, which is considered the first pets-only cemetery in the United Kingdom.

She must have been a beloved pup for her owners to arrange a memorial at a time when it was quite unusual and largely unheard of. Since then, 300 pets have been buried in Hyde Park’s pet cemetery, reports Sarah Sloat for Inverse. A new study, published yesterday in the journal Antiquity, tracks the evolution of humans’ relationships with their furry companions by cataloging and analyzing more than 1,000 tombstones in four of the United Kingdom’s pet cemeteries, including Hyde Park. The study reveals how dramatically pets evolved from mere companions to beloved family members within the span of just a few decades, reports David Grimm for Science.

Archaeologists often look to human burial sites to reconstruct what a community’s kinship groups, socio-economic statuses, societal structures, attitudes towards religion and local demographics looked like in the past—making them a hotspot for archaeological research. When Eric Tourigny, a historical archaeologist and the study’s author, was excavating a 19th century house in Toronto, Canada, a few years ago, he learned that the owners had buried their dog in the backyard. He began to wonder: “Why can’t we look at pet cemeteries to reconstruct past human-animal relationships?” reports Mindy Weisberger for Live Science.

Tourigny decided to visit four large pet cemeteries in the United Kingdom—dating back to Cherry’s death in 1881—and collected data from 1,169 different grave markers from 1881 to 1991. In the 19th century, people often disposed of their dead pets in the river or trash, or maybe they opted to sell the bodies for their skin or meat, Tourigny tells Science. So, deciding to bury them was a turning point in our evolving relationship with animals that reflects the values and norms of historical eras.

More than 70,000 beloved pets are buried at Hartsdale Pet Cemetery & Crematory in New York.

( Anthony22 via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 3.0)

During England’s Victorian period, which spanned from 1837 to 1901, mourning was a highly structured practice with proper rules and etiquette. Grief became a more public practice, even towards animals. The pets’ epitaphs “often referenced values like obedience and fidelity, which were themselves core Victorian ideals,” Tourigny tells Inverse. The gravestones were simple and engraved in sentiments like “Darling Fluff” or “Our Dear Wee Butcha.”

Tourigny noticed another shift after World War II when owners began to refer themselves as “Mummy” and “Dad” on the epitaphs, reports Science. There was also a significant rise in how many gravestones had the family’s surname written on it, too. And throughout the 20th century, cat graves became increasingly more common.

Philip Howell, a historical geographer at the University of Cambridge, tells Science that this shift represents “a greater willingness to identify pets as one of the family.”

This change is reflective of pet-related inventions at the time—dogs finally had flea shampoo and cats had litter to use, so they were invited into the house more often, reports Science.

In the 19th century, tombstones rarely featured religious symbols—like Christian crosses or the Jewish Stars of David—and avoided any mention that pets could be reunited with owners in the afterlife. At the time, the United Kingdom was still highly religious, and Christianity traditionally said that animals cannot go on to the afterlife.

“Just saying your animal is going to heaven would have been very controversial,” Tourigny tells Science.

Tourigny’s data revealed that before 1910, only around one percent of tombstones alluded to religion or spirituality. After World War II, more pet cemetary tombstones were bestowed with the family name, and nearly 20 percent of tombstones incorporated religious and spirtual references or motifs, implying that “owners were awaiting a reunion in the afterlife,” Tourigny tells Archie Bland for The Guardian.

Tourigny pieced together the evolution of human-pet relationships based on gravestones, but that data was only focused on pets in the United Kingdom. The relationships between animals and humans differs drastically from region to region, much less across the world, so it’s unclear how extensively these results can be applied to other places, Howell tells Science.

Pet cemeteries filled up around the early 1990s, marking an end to Tourigny’s data collection. But now, pets seem to be more valued than ever. In 2014, Catholic pet lovers rejoiced when Pope Francis hinted that their beloved companions would join them in heaven. And in 2016, New York governor Andrew Cuomo made it legal to bury pets next to their owners in human cemeteries, saying that “four-legged friends are family.”

“Who are we to stand in the way if someone’s final wish includes spending eternity with them?” Cuomo said.

#News

[euromaidanpress]

[box title=”” align=”center”]On July 3, 2020, dozens of Jewish tombstones (matzevot) were uncovered during groundwork by workers of Dolia Search and Exhumation Centre. They line the small courtyard of the former NKVD headquarters, now the Prison on Lontskoho Museum  in Lviv.  Experts believe that human remains may be found beneath the gravestones.[/box]

Jewish gravestones discovered in small courtyard of Prison on Lontskoho. Photo: Halyna Tereshchuk. Radio Svoboda.org (RFE/RL)

The Prison on Lontskoho Museum

The National Memorial Museum of Victims of Occupation Regimes or Prison on Lontskoho (Ukrainian: Тюрма на Лонцького) is a former detention centre in Lviv that was primarily used as a political prison of the Polish, Soviet and Nazi regimes throughout the 20th century.

The Prison on Lontskoho Museum is located in one section of the former prison. Political prisoners under Polish, Austrian, Soviet and German rule were imprisoned here. From September 1939 to the end of June 1941, the building housed the NKVD headquarters and Ukrainian political prisoners. From 1941 to 1944, the building was used by the Gestapo as a remand prison. As of 1944, the premises were used by the NKVD, followed by the KGB and later, the Ministry of the Interior of Ukraine.

Jewish gravestones discovered in small courtyard of Prison on Lontskoho. Photo: Halyna Tereshchuk. Radio Svoboda.org (RFE/RL)

Today, the Prison on Lontskoho Museum also houses the main office of the Research Centre for the Study of the Ukrainian Liberation Movement. The whole history of these premises is penetrated by apocalyptic images that are difficult to imagine.

The museum was created to preserve national memory. Not only is it the largest prison in Western Ukraine, but it is also a reminder of the horrors of totalitarian soviet rule, the German and Polish occupation regimes, and a warning for future Ukrainian generations not to allow such terrible tragedies to happen again.

Jewish gravestones discovered in small courtyard of Prison on Lontskoho. Photo: Halyna Tereshchuk. Radio Svoboda.org (RFE/RL)

The Old Jewish Cemetery in Lviv

The Jewish community has been an integral part of Ukrainian society since the foundation of Lviv. The Old Jewish Cemetary, which was situated near present-day Krakivsky Market, was first mentioned in Lviv’s municipal acts in 1414. In any case, it was the oldest in the Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia and one of the oldest in Europe.

Jews from all over Halychyna (Galicia) were buried here. It was only at the beginning of the 17th century that Jewish communities in other cities and towns of Halychyna were allowed to have their own cemeteries.

Prominent members of the Jewish community – scholars, philosophers, writers and rabbis – were laid to rest in the centre of the cemetery, thus forming a kind of “Jewish Pantheon”. The synagogue Beth Almin Yashan was also located on the territory of the Old Cemetery.

Beth Almin Yashan Synagogue

After the cholera epidemic in 1855, the Austrian authorities closed the Old Cemetery. The Jewish community received a plot of land on the territory of what is now Yanivsky Cemetery.

The Old Cemetery survived as a historical and cultural monument under the auspices of the Jewish community until 1942, but was destroyed first by the German armies and later by the Soviet regime. The Old Jewish Cemetery is no more. Scholars say that in 500 years between 25,000 to 30,000 people were buried there.

In 1945, during the Soviet period, the Central Food Market, known in Lviv as Krakivsky Bazar, was built on the site of the Old Cemetery, and the ancient tombstones were used to pave streets and build retaining walls.

In 2017, volunteers from the Lviv Volunteer Centre of the Hesed Arieh All-Ukrainian Jewish Charitable Foundation uncovered over 100 matzevot used to pave vul. Barvinok in central Lviv. Jewish headstones have also been found in other towns of Lviv Oblast – Rohatyn, Drohobych, Stryy, Boryslav – and transported for safekeeping to Yanivsky Cemetary in Lviv.

Countless Jewish tombstones uncovered

Photo: Halyna Tereshchuk. Radio Svoboda.org (RFE/RL)

The small courtyard of the former Prison on Lontskoho in Lviv is almost entirely lined with Jewish tombstones. Some names and surnames in Hebrew and Polish, as well as the dates of death – 1910, 1938, 1939, etc. – can be easily deciphered. A tractor/bulldozer has carefully removed the top layer of asphalt and soil, uncovering dozens of matzevot.

“The first hours of excavation work showed that the entire courtyard was paved with tombstones taken from Jewish cemeteries. Once again, our history bears witness to the inhumanity and criminality of the totalitarian communist regime. Paving the courtyard with tombstones instead of granite or concrete! How can anyone with a sense of humanity do such a thing? In fact, this illustrates the essence of the communist regime. After removing the headstones, we plan to check whether there are human remains under them, to put an end to all doubts and speculations,” says the director of Dolia Search and Exhumation Centre, Svyatoslav Sheremeta.

Director of the Centre for Jewish Studies in Lviv, Meilakh Sheikhet studies the gravestones. Photo: Halyna Tereshchuk. Radio Svoboda.org (RFE/RL)

During the German occupation of Western Ukraine, most Jewish graves in Lviv cemeteries were destroyed. The Director of the Centre for Jewish Studies in Lviv, Meilakh Sheikhet states that the matzevot were probably taken from Yanivsky Cemetery, where many Jewish families were buried. This cemetery began operating in 1855, and the dates of death on the uncovered tombstones indicate that the gravestones are probably from there.

“This was a barbaric act, destroying the essence, the value of human life. We have a religious definition: if the living protect the dead, then the dead in turn protect the living. This spiritual connection prevents the world from destroying itself. We plan to study all the inscriptions, and then address the courts to return the gravestones to Yanivsky Cemetery and erect a memorial in honour of the Jewish community of Lviv. After all, not much has been written about the history of the Jewish community in Lviv. Today, a large market stands on the original Old Jewish Cemetery, where prominent scholars and philosophers are buried.” says Meilakh Sheikhet.

23 human remains found in 2016

Excavation work began in the small courtyard with the permission of the regional director of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Yuriy Honcharov. Talks about exploring the area had begun way back in the summer of 2016, when excavations revealed 23 human remains in the large courtyard of the Prison on Lontskoho.

Jewish gravestones discovered in small courtyard of Prison on Lontskoho. Photo: Halyna Tereshchuk. Radio Svoboda.org (RFE/RL)

After conducting further investigations, scholars and researchers confirmed that these were victims of political repressions executed by NKVD squads in the 1940s and 1950s. According to eyewitnesses, political prisoners were shot dead in the courtyard of the former prison and their bodies dumped into pits. Soviet shell casings and personal belongings were found during the excavations. The human remains were covered with several layers of soil and household waste.

Prisoners were not allowed to stretch their legs in the prison courtyards. Ruslan Zabily, historian and Director of the National Memorial Museum explains:

“This area [courtyard-Ed] used to belong to the regional KGB department. It was a high security area that wasn’t open to historians and researchers. We met with the administration of the Security Service of Ukraine in Lviv Oblast and held a series of talks on conducting historical and archaeological studies of this area. We know that there were mass graves in the large courtyard, discovered in the summer of 2016, so further excavations should be planned here as well.”

Once all the tombstones have been removed, excavations will begin and it will be clear whether other people were executed and buried in the small courtyard of the prison.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Jewish tombstone: matzevah, plural matzevot (Hebrew – מצבה; Ukrainian – мацева)

Many matzevot (Jewish tombstones) are preserved in the Jewish cemeteries of Ukraine, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Moldova. The symbols depicted on the matzevot reflect the religious and social status of the deceased, his profession, personal status, etc. For example, hands above lit candles or candles burning on Sabbath candlesticks were depicted on the gravestones of women, because it was precisely their duty to light the Sabbath candles; an open book or a few rows of books adorned the gravestones of rabbis or authors of religious works; goose feathers – for scribes of sacred texts; scissors – for tailors; jewellery – for jewellers; a donation bowl, a hand giving alms – pointed to the generosity of the deceased, etc. Even death was marked by certain symbols: broken glassware, broken candles, overturned lamps. It was only at the end of the 19th century – beginning of the 20th century that the image of the Star of David (hexagonal star) began spreading throughout the Russian Empire.

[box title=”” align=”center”]A new website provides information and guidance to assist leaders, activists and volunteers in the care and rehabilitation of Jewish cemeteries in Western Ukraine. Included here are “best practices” (processes, methods, tools), plus a collection of resources (texts, websites, videos) relevant to the work, selected case studies of local and other cemetery projects, and links to independent organizations working to document Jewish cemeteries in the region. [/box]

Jewish tombstones found in small courtyard of former NKVD headquarters in Lviv On July 3, 2020, dozens of Jewish tombstones (matzevot) were uncovered during groundwork by workers of…