Friday, April 14, 2006

Cemetary walk

Posted by Sickboy at 2:43 PM
So today I went to a local cemetary to visit my favorite ducks and geese that live in the pond there and I began to stray off and look about at some of the headstones that lay there. I came to the area where the Jewish people were laid to rest and I noticed two things: first I saw two HUGE headstones with the last name Offman, which kinda freaked me out. Secondly, I noticed on quite a few of the headstones that people had placed little stones on them.

I have heard that this has something to do with the Holocaust, does anyone know the story behind the stones? I mean, they were just little rocks that you could find laying on the ground, there was nothing special about them but you could tell they had been placed atop these headstones for a specific reason.

Does anyone know why? I am very curious.....

8 comments:

Mark M said...

A good excuse to do some useless research on a slow day at the office! I was aware of the tradition, but I never thought to ask why... Here is something I found at the Riverside Memorial Chapel (New York) website:

[begin quoted passage]

According to the Bible the first monuments were merely mounds of stones or insides of natural rock caves, as was the graves of Abraham and Sarah. The early Hebrews were nomadic tribes and shepherds and were not skilled in the arts of quarrying and stone carving until their contacts with Babylon and Egypt.

It was the custom when passing by a mound of stones marking a grave to deposit one from the vicinity that may have fallen off. This became interpreted as a mark of thoughtfulness and regard for the memory of the person buried. These mounds of heavy rocks served to guard the graves from predatory animals and grave robbers.

[end quoted passage]

The Wikipedia entry on the subject adds: "Typically, even when visiting Jewish graves of someone you never knew, one would leave a small stone at the graveside. This shows that someone has visited, and represents 'permanence'. This is in stark contrast to the customs followed by many others of leaving flowers, which do not live long."

The cemetery where my deceased relatives are buried has monuments that are flush with the ground so the groundskeepers can ride the mowers right over them. I don't want to leave anything that might damage the blades, so I use pine cones instead.

Next time you go to the cemetery, put a stone on Offman's grave.

4:34 PM CDT
Sickboy said...

Thank you Mark for the kick butt insight. I will do that the next time I go there to visit the geese.

5:50 PM CDT
dad-e~O said...

ya gotta love them jews.....
Thanks Mark M.
As with the vast majorituy of seemingly quirky rules, the jews have a faith strongly based in practicality.
pig's are dirty and you are what you eat. is only one good example.

7:53 PM CDT
Michael said...

Yes, but if you ever want to confuse a Jew just offer them free pork!

Mark, good research. I always knew that tradition, but didn't know an exact reason either. I always just thought it was to show that you had been there and nothing more.

11:36 PM CDT
Scott said...

Two summers ago I helped clean out my parent’s barn, and let me tell you the sheep side was far more disgusting than the pig side. Those sheep will piss and shit in there own food and bedding then eat it and sleep in it! The pigs, while they do play in the mud, have a preference for clean fesses free mud. Not that I feel that Judaism has the pig thing all wrong, there is a story from Mexico where people ate a parasite infected pork and got worms ( http://www.enrichinglives.com/parasites2.htm ) on their brain. I just disagree they are dirty animals ask any farmer chickens and poultry are considered the most filthy on the farm. Any how my parents had some pigs (Piglet and Porkchop) they went to Disney Land and now they live in the freezer, the sheep just went to market.

9:24 AM CDT
Scott said...

I got side tracked, I really just wanted to say that I very much enjoyed this post and goup of comments.

10:51 AM CDT
dad-e~O said...

Mabye that's why sheep is (are?) eaten so young, before they get so nasty.

12:15 PM CDT
Scott said...

lol

1:06 PM CDT

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