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For thousands of years, our ancestors were engaged in a cycle of being born and succumbing to death. This cycle cannot be stopped. But in our power to create, we also have traditions to preserve the memory of those who are no longer with us. Jews recall the names of the deceased, mourn for them immediately and years later, and name children after them.
Traditions and commandments pass from generation to generation. It is our power to preserve those bits of memory that are carved on a time-consuming stone. |
Page coordinator Benjamin Belenky
Genealogy and cemeteries
Not many people know that much of the information for genealogical research and collecting information about families can be gleaned directly from the drawings depicted on tombstones (matzevot). And icons, such as lions, deer, and candlesticks are just the few that can be seen on Jewish tombstones of the middle - the end of the 19th century. Records on tombstones also often contain information about who the person was, the person’s father, what memory of himself he left, how he died. Sometimes there are gravestones with whole family stories or quotes from the Torah.
Most of the tombstones of 1800-1930 were written in Hebrew, and not always the inscription was made by literate, educated people, it sometimes makes the process of deciphering these epitaphs very difficult. Until 1900, it is rare to find burial places with surnames. Indeed, in most of the Russian Empire of the Czars, surnames were not even created until the period between 1800 and 1826.
Most of the tombstones of 1800-1930 were written in Hebrew, and not always the inscription was made by literate, educated people, it sometimes makes the process of deciphering these epitaphs very difficult. Until 1900, it is rare to find burial places with surnames. Indeed, in most of the Russian Empire of the Czars, surnames were not even created until the period between 1800 and 1826.
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Cemetery preservation
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Project Mitzvatemet is designed to preserve the memory of the deceased, as integral parts of the lives and communities in which they lived.
We create photo catalogs and databases of Jewish cemeteries in the territory of the countries of the former USSR. Many burials have not survived the years of the Second World War, as well as the period of Communist power. Nevertheless, we can try our best to preserve the memory of the people who left this world. In creating photo catalogs, we set a goal to save also epitaphs, as put on the stone. Learn more
We create photo catalogs and databases of Jewish cemeteries in the territory of the countries of the former USSR. Many burials have not survived the years of the Second World War, as well as the period of Communist power. Nevertheless, we can try our best to preserve the memory of the people who left this world. In creating photo catalogs, we set a goal to save also epitaphs, as put on the stone. Learn more
Links to the other cemeteries
Belarus
Russia
Latvia
Estonia
Belarus
Russia
Latvia
Estonia
Abbreviations and Terms Found on Tombstones in Poland
JewishGen: Reading Hebrew Tombstones
