Gravestone of Jakob HaBachur

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The little stones on Jakob HaBachur's tombstone were placed there by visitors.

The tombstone of Jakob haBachur , d. 1076/1077, is in the Heiliger Sand cemetery in Worms .

meaning

The stone has long been considered the oldest in situ preserved Jewish grave stone in Europe. Today the tombstone of a man whose name is unknown is dated to the year 1058/59.

description

In the grave stone Jakob HABA Chur is a (still) 90 cm high, 50 cm wide and 20 cm deep stele of sandstone, the foot a projection cm has from 30th It stands on the cemetery grounds at the entrance to Rabbinertal. The shape of the stone is characteristic of the 11th and 12th centuries.

The five-line inscription is framed by incised lines:

זו מצבת יעקב
הבחור הנפטר
לעולמו בתתל״ז
לפרט תנוח נפשו
בצרור החיים

In translation it reads:

This is the stele of Yaakov,
the young man (?), Who passed away
in his eternity in (year) 837 of
the count. Let his soul rest
in the bundle of life.

The year [4] 837 according to the Jewish calendar corresponds to the years 1076/1077 according to Christian counting. Jakob HaBachur was a contemporary of Rabbi Schlomo Jitzchaki ( Raschi ), who was a Talmud student in Worms in 1060 . Therefore, traces of veneration can be seen on his tombstone.

The addition to the name הבחור ( haBachur ) can be translated in different ways:

  1. Hebrew : “the young man.” It could be a single Talmud student (according to the traditional view), or Jacob “junior” to distinguish it from an older Jacob.
  2. Hebrew: “the noble, distinguished one.” Since two other Worms stones from the 11th century have this addition, Bachur could also be a family name (after Michael Brocke ). (The use of the name by the humanist and grammarian Elija Levita Bachur (1469–1549) from Ipsheim in Central Franconia could be compared.)

The final sentence תנוח נפשו בצרור החיים already resembles the blessing formula used as standard on Jewish gravestones later: “ His soul is integrated into the bundle of life. “(תהיה נפשו צרורה בצרור החיים ). It is a quote from the Bible ( 1 Sam 25:29  ELB ).

According to the old inventory, the tombstone was numbered 1050, and numbered 9009 according to the numbering of the Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute .

Web links

literature

in alphabetical order by authors / editors

  • Otto Böcher : The old Jewish cemetery in Worms = Rheinische Kunststätten 148th 7th edition. Neusser Verlag und Druckerei, Neuss 1992. ISBN 3-88094-711-2 , pp. 3, 6.
  • Michael Brocke: The medieval cemetery of Worms - On the wealth and needs of a holy place . In: Daniel Krohabennik, Hanna Liss, Ronen Reichman (eds.): Raschi and his legacy. International conference of the University for Jewish Studies with the city of Worms = writings of the University for Jewish Studies Heidelberg 10. Heidelberg, 2007, pp. 199–226.
  • Susanne Härtel: Jewish cemeteries in the Middle Ages = Europe in the Middle Ages 27. de Gruyter 2017. ISBN 978-3-11-053636-2
  • Historisches Museum der Pfalz Speyer (Hrsg.): Europe's Jews in the Middle Ages. (Catalog). 2004, p. 154.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Epidat: Worms Jewish Cemetery. Inv no. 9009
  2. ↑ Otto Böcher : The old Jewish cemetery in Worms = Rheinische Kunststätten 148th 7th edition. Neusser Verlag und Druckerei, Neuss 1992. ISBN 3-88094-711-2 , p. 3.
  3. ↑ Epidat: Worms Jewish Cemetery. Inv no. 9008 .
  4. ↑ a b c Europe's Jews in the Middle Ages . S. 154 .
  5. ↑ Ulrike Schäfer: Wormser Altertumsverein presents a new calendar for the Jewish cemetery "Heiliger Sand". September 12, 2015, accessed January 4, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Böcher, p. 6.

Coordinates: 49 ° 37 ′ 44.9 ″  N , 8 ° 21 ′ 19.3 ″  E