While on our Trolley Tour of Savannah Georgia, we drove by this Jewish monument to the first Jewish settlers and the first Jewish cemetery in Savannah.
Why Do Jews Put Stones on Graves?
One theory is this: During the times of the Temple in Jerusalem, Jewish priests (kohanim) became ritually impure if they came within four feet of a corpse. As a result, Jews began marking graves with piles of rocks in order to indicate to passing kohanim that they should stay back.
Another reason comes from the Talmud and the belief that after a person dies their soul continues to dwell for a while in the grave where they are buried. The theory goes that putting stones on a grave keeps the soul down in this world. I don't buy that, but some people may find that comforting. Another related interpretation suggests that the stones keep demons and golems from getting into the graves. OY!
During the Exodus, the entire adult generation that left Egypt died while wandering in the desert. The scholarly argument is that there was no reason to mark the earliest Hebrew graves in the wilderness, since their goal was Canaan, not return visits to ancestor tombs.
PEBBLE/STONE:
There is one more concept that goes like this. “The Hebrew word for ‘pebble’ is tz’ror – and it happens that this Hebrew word also means ‘bond.’ This relates to a Hebrew prayer for the departed that is recited. The prayer is called "El Maleh Rahamim." In this prayer is this verse:
"We beseech (אָנָּא-Ana) the Merciful One to shade them forever with divine wings, and to bind their soul up in the bonds (b’tzror-pebble) of life. The Lord is their heritage, and they shall rest peacefully on her bed. And let us say, Amen."
MY Conclusion:
Tradition! We do it because we've been doing it so long that we keep doing it. That's a good enough reason. It's a healing action. It comforts the survivor. So, so be it.
In some profound sense, to me the putting the rock on the grave is a way of "not leaving" or "staying with" the loved one. It is a way of saying "I was here" and "they were here." ❤️
There is no commandment to place a stone on a grave. So it is an opportunity for you to create your own ritual, or do things in the way that feels most meaningful to you. I like the reason that stones last longer than flowers. 💐
Epilogue:
Jacob and Joseph are not buried together in the same location. While both were buried in the land of Canaan, Jacob was buried in the family plot at the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron. Conversely, Joseph's bones, which were carried out of Egypt during the Exodus, were buried in a separate plot in Shechem.
Exodus 13:19—Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.”
Joshua 24:32—The bones of Jacob, which the Israelites had brought out from Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in a piece of land that Jacob had bought from the children of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for one hundred pieces of money; it became an inheritance for the descendants of Joseph.
Jacob is buried in the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron alongside his wife Leah, his grandparents Abraham and Sarah, and his parents Isaac and Rebekah. He specifically requested this burial site in Canaan. Some traditions suggest the sons of Jacob were also buried in the same cave.
A key rabbinic tradition (Sota 13a) teaches that Moses took Joseph’s bones, but each tribe also took the bones of its own tribal ancestors out of Egypt, not just Joseph alone. This midrash implies that the Exodus carried a larger “cargo of bones” representing the fathers of the tribes.
In the Cave of Machpelah, better known as The Tomb of the Patriarchs, are bones roughly 3,700–3,800 years old. This tomb and the city of Hebron are central to Jewish ancestral memory,
Today, 80% of Hebron is controlled by the Palestinian authority. It is ironic that Hebron is disputed territory in Israel. While the bones of Jewish ancestors are 3700 years old and are documented in the Bible, there wouldn't be an actual Palestinian Authority or a Palestinian leader until 1994 A.D.
Mamilla Cemetery in Jerusalem dates back to the 7th century A.D. when companions of the Prophet Muhammad were believed to be buried there. In addition, it needs to be noted, that Muslims in the 7th century did not call themselves "Palestinians" as a nationality or ethnic identifier.
