There are many different stories cited as the historical origin of this tradition. It may trace back to the Biblical times when graves were simply marked with small stone mounds. Since gravestones were not utilized during this period, the mounds helped mark the location of the grave. In essence...
Hampstead Mayor Jeremy Levi condemned the vandalism of Kehal Israel Memorial Park, in which the stones that are traditionally placed on graves out of respect for the dead and to mark one’s visit to a deceased loved one were misappropriated. “It is absolutely abhorrent and revolting to defile...
In moments when we are faced with the fragility of life, Judaism reminds us that there is permanence amidst the pain. While other things fade, stones and souls endure.” For more information on the cultural meaning of placing stones on graves, visit https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/...
Placing stones on the memorial monument. Photo credits: Bożena Gajewska We thought that was it, but Bożena had one more surprise for us: a sign for the gate identifying this as a Jewish cemetery. She thought of it two nights ago, ordered it the next morning, and picked it up shortl...
The commemoration is widely observed, and based on the Jewish funeral tradition that require mourners to commemorate the death of a relative. Mourners required to fulfill this observance are the children, siblings, spouses and parents of the deceased. The Yahrtzeit falls annually on the Hebrew dat...
Defending History’s take: “A very sad day for Lithuania and its proud ages-old tradition of Grand Duchy tolerance and its current record as a successful democracy. Ten years after Defending History published images of the plaque honoring Noreika, seven years after Evaldas Balciunas brought the...
Tradition has preserved the recollection of the early division of Egypt into two kingdoms, (a) that of the red crown in the north, whose capital was Buto, and (b) that of the white crown in the south, with its capital at Eileithyiaspolis, the modern El-Kab; and in literary style ...
It is true that later tradition, both Jewish and Christian, agrees in placing Zion upon the southwestern hill; but even the latest attempts of Karl Rückert ("Die Lage des Berges Sion," Freiburg, 1898), Georg Gatt ("Sion in Jerusalem," Brixen, 1900, and "Zur Topographie Jerusalems," in...
Defending History’s take: “A very sad day for Lithuania and its proud ages-old tradition of Grand Duchy tolerance and its current record as a successful democracy. Ten years after Defending History published images of the plaque honoring Noreika, seven years after Evaldas Balciunas brought the...