Friday, November 18, 2016

Tree Shaped Tombstones - Jewish Versions!

In general Americans tend to get along much better in life than in death.  Hence the tradition of separate cemeteries for Protestant and Catholic folks.  I'm not sure what people are worried about, do they think that the Archangel Gabriel when blowing the Final Trumpet would get mixed up and bar the Pearly Gates based on who you had been "nonliving" next door to?

One hopes Heaven is run more efficiently than that.

In any case Jewish folks certainly had their own cemeteries wherever a community of sufficient size existed.  Outside of Sheboygan was this nice little spot, the Hebrew Cemetery.  And I was delighted to find Jewish variations on Tree Shaped Tombstones.


Above we have the Classic Style but with some nice personalized touches.




As this is a somewhat newer cemetery that was one of the few early markers, but across the way we find this little "grove" of newer style tree markers.  Here we see them from the back.



This one tells a story....

These later style markers always have an insert at eye level.  This is a bronze plaque from the Jewish War Veterans Association.  The local post is named after Lieutenant Marsak.


Other markers go for something more basic.  


The structure of these markers does not really lend itself to another long standing Jewish tradition, that of placing stones atop the monument.  But that was very much being upheld elsewhere in the cemetery.



No comments: