Jewish Atlantic World Database Live on the Web!
The Jewish Atlantic World Database
is now open and free to use! In the collection, you will find over
5,000 images related to Jewish life in early America including nearly 3,000 photos of gravestones. ...
What's in a Name? Typology and Early American Nomenclature
One of the many wonderful features of the NEHGS (New England Historical Genealogical Society) is that they send out a weekly newsletter filled with useful tidbits. One of my favorite items is the "Name...
Keep This Classic Cemetery Open to the Public!
Beth Haim Ouderkerk is the most magnificent and important of the historic cemeteries in the Jewish Atlantic World. It is the birthplace of the unique Sephardic sepulchral tradition that spread throughout...
Transcolonial Gravestone Trade
Occasionally there is a gravestone you having been waiting months to see. I just got back from a research trip in Barbados. One of the gravestones I had been most eager to visit while I was there was...
Home is Where the Heart is...
In the Hunts Bay Cemetery in Jamaica, there is a small fragment of a gravestone, belonging to Esther ("De Ester"). The rest of the fragment reads "fil...," probably filha, daughter in Portuguese. The...
Graveyard Cats
This post is dedicated to the felines of the Atlantic World: those sun-loving souls who spend their days (and nights) lounging in the cemeteries that grace the Atlantic Rim. This week I feature two...
Gravestone Symbols: the Hand of God
According to Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed, belief in the corporeality of God is a heresy. Why then do gravestones from the Jewish Atlantic World often feature the hand of God cutting down the...
Book Review: Houses of Life
I have a new favorite book: Joachim Jacobs' Houses of Life: Jewish Cemeteries of Europe. This book is a must have for anyone interested in either Jewish History, Genealogy, or Gravestone Art. Several...
Jewish Death Rituals: the House of the Rounds
As my twin sister will attest, since an early age I have had an extreme fear of dead bodies. Once I was asked to be part of the women's Chevra Kaddisha (Jewish burial society) in Portland, and although...
Anatomy of a Gravestone: Identifying Stone Carvers
At first glance, the gravestones of Redolphus Malbone (1767 LEFT) and Isaac Lopez (1762 RIGHT) look remarkably similar: their graves are marked by small upright markers with cherubs...
