Gick förbi en kyrkogård i helgen som hade en judisk avdelning. På gravstenarna hade någon/några lagt vanliga stenar. Är det någon som vet varför man gör det? och har man alltid gjort så?
//Johan
Stenar på graven.
Bakgrunden till traditionen är höljd i historiens dunkel. Det finns en del teorier, som att stenarna tillsammans skall bygga upp ett skydd mot djur/väder/bönder/plundrare, att man tog stenar för att det var lätt att hitta på begravningsplatsen och blommor ansågs hedniskt. Stenarna symboliserar också att man bygger en byggnad som aldrig blir färdig. En annan tradition säger att stenarna hindrar den döde att gå igen. Ytterligare en version är att stenar är det enda förutom själen som inte förgås utan är evigt.
Förutom stenar finns det också en tradition att lägga gräs på gravarna, som symbol för evigheten. Stenar har också en djupare betydelse inom judendomen som symbol för marken (som kroppen kom ifrån) och grundvalar (för både det ena och det andra ...), altarstenar, osv.
En legend jag hittade som förklaring på detta bruk går annars så här:
"Sometime during the Turkish occupation of Israel, on a Shabbat, an Arab was murdered in Jerusalem. Quickly, the rumor spread that he was killed by a Jew, and an immediate expulsion order was declared. The Jews of Jerusalem had to pick themselves up and leave or be killed. A noted kabbalist (mystic) came upon the scene of the crime, which was crowded with Arab onlookers. Even though it was Shabbat, the kabbalist wrote one of G-d's names on a piece of paper and placed it upon the body of the dead man. The dead man rose and pointed to one of the Arabs standing in the crowd who became violently afraid and admitted that he had done the killing. The expulsion order was rescinded.
Shortly afterwards the kabbalist, who was an elderly man, approached the chevra kadisha (burial society) and asked that his tombstone be pelted with stones after his death because he had written during Shabbat. He understood that due to the danger to life he had been permitted to desecrate the Shabbat, but he felt that some form of repentance was in order nevertheless. Stoning his grave would symbolize the stoning penalty meted out to Shabbat desecraters. At first the chevra kadisha refused because of the implied dishonor the stoning would represent to so righteous a Jew, but the kabbalist persisted. Finally, they agreed to place stones on his grave, but only if they would institute the custom that all graves would have stones placed on them in the future. If stones were place on everyone's grave, it would not be a dishonor to the kabbalist. From then on, stones were placed on the graves of all Jews buried in Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem the custom spread, and today Jews all over the world place stones on tombstones when visiting a grave."
Förutom stenar finns det också en tradition att lägga gräs på gravarna, som symbol för evigheten. Stenar har också en djupare betydelse inom judendomen som symbol för marken (som kroppen kom ifrån) och grundvalar (för både det ena och det andra ...), altarstenar, osv.
En legend jag hittade som förklaring på detta bruk går annars så här:
"Sometime during the Turkish occupation of Israel, on a Shabbat, an Arab was murdered in Jerusalem. Quickly, the rumor spread that he was killed by a Jew, and an immediate expulsion order was declared. The Jews of Jerusalem had to pick themselves up and leave or be killed. A noted kabbalist (mystic) came upon the scene of the crime, which was crowded with Arab onlookers. Even though it was Shabbat, the kabbalist wrote one of G-d's names on a piece of paper and placed it upon the body of the dead man. The dead man rose and pointed to one of the Arabs standing in the crowd who became violently afraid and admitted that he had done the killing. The expulsion order was rescinded.
Shortly afterwards the kabbalist, who was an elderly man, approached the chevra kadisha (burial society) and asked that his tombstone be pelted with stones after his death because he had written during Shabbat. He understood that due to the danger to life he had been permitted to desecrate the Shabbat, but he felt that some form of repentance was in order nevertheless. Stoning his grave would symbolize the stoning penalty meted out to Shabbat desecraters. At first the chevra kadisha refused because of the implied dishonor the stoning would represent to so righteous a Jew, but the kabbalist persisted. Finally, they agreed to place stones on his grave, but only if they would institute the custom that all graves would have stones placed on them in the future. If stones were place on everyone's grave, it would not be a dishonor to the kabbalist. From then on, stones were placed on the graves of all Jews buried in Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem the custom spread, and today Jews all over the world place stones on tombstones when visiting a grave."