I’ve just watched Schindler’s List again. At the end surviving *Schindlerjuden laid rocks on his grave. What is the significance of that?
It’s a long-standing custom. Israel’s ground is rocky soil, and before the Industrial Revolution digging in such ground was tough. As I understand matters, bodies were normally buried in half graves, and stones piled on top. As a reminder of this practice, Jews place a stone on a grave when they visit the grave.
Here are some articles on the subject- I only skimmed a couple so YMMV.
The sites that links to thme looks very good, though.
Thanks for the factual answers.
Now for the joke: Did you hear about the guy whose mother-in-law died? When the funeral director asked what kind of monument he wanted for her, he said ‘Something big and heavy!’
I’ve walked in the Jewish cemetery here in Victoria, and there were stones on the graves there, too. It was a tangible reminder that someone was there, thinking about the dead.
It’s a nomad thing. So long as passerbys place fresh stones, the gravesite won’t be lost, and the deceased won’t be forgotten. It’s a very old custom.
I take stones with me whenever I visit a Holocaust memorial, and my kids and I leave them (Boston, SF, NYC, etc).
I grew up near a small Jewish cemetery. I don’t recall seeing rocks, but I do recall seeing seashells and sea dollars. Is this a related custom or something else?
Jim