Chaya Dvoira’s epitaph: “a modest and honest woman”

Registry book with entry on Chaya Dvoira's death. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

The Yiddishist Dov-Ber Kerler, of the University of Indiana, has kindly provided a translation of the epitaph on Chaya Dvoira’s tomb. It adds a little confusion, as it notes her date of death in 1904, while the registry book shows it as February 22, 1905…or maybe that’s just the date the death was entered…

H[ere] L[ies] the modest and honest woman / Ms Khaya Dvora (Khaye Dvoyre] daughter of Moshe Mordechai [Moyshe Mordkhe] / deceased on the 16 [day] of the month / [of] Adar Rishon in the year / [5]664 (=1904) M[ay her] S[oul be] E[ntwined into the] T[apestry of] L[ife]

The “Women’s Commandments” in Epitaphs

In the “articles” section of the sidebar, I have posted a link to a fascinating article by Evyatar Marienberg from Tel Aviv University called “A Mystery on the Tombstones: ‘Women’s Commandments’ in Early-Modern Ashkenazi Culture.” It focuses on the inscriptions on women’s tombstones in the Jewish cemetery in Rosenwiller, in Alsace in eastern France. The article appears in  Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary Journal, vol. 3, No. 2, Winter 2003

The abstract states:

In a cemetery in Alsace, many of the women’s tombstones bear the inscription that the deceased kept the so-called “Women’s Commandments.” The article argues that two reasons may, among other reasons, account for this custom: one is for the sake of the deceased, proclaiming that she has atoned for the sin of Eve, and the other is for the sake of her descendants, arming that they are not “Bnei ha-Niddah,” descendants of a woman who ignored the Jewish laws regarding menstruation.

As I noted on the home page, these “Women’s Commandments” include lighting the Sabbath candles, observing the laws of Niddah separating men from women during their menstrual periods, and observing that of Challah, or burning a piece of dough when making bread.

In the article, the author notes the tombstone of a woman who died June 22, 1837, on which the epitaph details her adherence to all three — it’s the only epitaph to be so explicit that he found. The stone does not seem to bear any decorative carving. The inscription reads:

Here is buried a

woman, Mrs. Breinel,

the wife of the

respected Yehudah,

known as Leib from

Kolbsheim, her hands

were open for the

poor, the candle of

Sabbath she lit on

time, the bloods of

her Niddah she

properly distanced,

from the kneaded

dough she separated

Hallah, she is the

wise woman, on

Thursday, the 19th of

Sivan, (5)597, may

her soul be in the

sack of [those

designated to] life,

Amen.