82 funerary, burial, and mourning practices and lines of rhymed prose make it his longest Funerary, Burial, and work. *Ḥanukka-nāma (The Book of Hanukah), Mourning Practices his other long narrative, is an account of the Maccabees’ successful military campaign against the Seleucid dynasty in the second In the Talmud and the Midrash, death and century B.C.E. The extant manuscript copies birth are viewed as parallel processes, and are incomplete; in the introduction, however, the way a person died and the day of the Ben Samuel expresses his desire to continue death were thought to be significant as good in the tradition, begun by *Shāhīn in the or bad omens for the deceased. Many of the fourteenth century and *ʾImrānī in the fif- death, burial, and mourning customs of the teenth to sixteenth centuries, of composing Jews of the Islamic world were closer than versified Judeo-Persian versions of biblical their Ashkenazi counterparts to the practices and other narratives. He was unaware that in of talmudic times. Jewish custom everywhere 1524 ʿImrānī had in fact composed Ẓafar- insists on prompt burial as a matter of respect nāma (The Book of Victory), a versified ren- for the dead, and this is considered to be the dering of the First Book of the Maccabees). duty of the heirs and the entire community. Most of Ben Samuel’s Hebrew composi- The departure of the soul (Heb. neshama) tions were hymns (Heb. piyyutiṃ ) emulating makes the body impure, which means that it the style of the Jewish poets of medieval has to be purified before the burial. Many Spain. He also wrote a prose commentary on Jewish communities under Islam believed *Solomon ibn Gabirol’s liturgical poem that one’s death day (Ar. ajal) was fixed at *Sheteṛ ʿAlay be-ʾEdim ve-Qinyan, tradition- birth, an idea common in Muslim theology. ally read on the eve of the Day of Atonement, The rituals surrounding death, as with birth and a versified commentary to the introduc- and marriage, were based on the halakha, but tion of the same author’s Azharot (Heb. in some places were combined with local Admonitions), hymns expounding the 613 Arabo-Berber and Muslim *folklore and positive and negative commandments. *magic. In other places, such as *Kurdistan, as the anthropologist Erich Brauer noted, Bibliography Jews “have taken over scarcely anything from Abraham ben Ḥasday, Ben ha-Melekh veha- the death customs of the people around Nazir, ed. Abraham M. Haberman (Tel Aviv: them, so that their death customs remain Mosad Harav Kook, 1950). fundamentally Jewish” (Brauer, p. 190). The Azharot leha-Gaʾon R. Yi sḥ ̣aq ben Reʾuven ha- obligatory laws of burial and mourning sym- Niqra Albar seloni;̣ kolel Azharot leha-Gaʾon bolize the fact that all people, irrespective of Shelomo ben Gabirol (Jerusalem: Sifriya ha- socioeconomic status, are equal at the time of Sefaradit, Mekhon Bene Yisakhar, 1992). burial and during the mourning period. Benyahu, Meir. “Meshorerim u-Mepazmenim However, despite the fact that their earthly be-Paras u-be-Bukhara be-Meʾa ha-Shevʾa ʿEsreh,” lives had ended, the hierarchical division Sinai 87 (1980): 135–149. between men and *women remained as dif- Ḥakham, Shimʾon. Sefer Sharḥ Shāhzadah va ferentiated as ever. Most Jewish books of the Sūfị̄ (Jerusalem: S. Ḥakham, 1907). ill and the dead (Heb. holiṃ u-metim) in the Yasharpour, Dalia. “Elīšaʾ ben Šemūel’s Šahzādeh East (and also in the West) make no special va Sūfī:̣ The Judeo-Persian Adaptation of the reference to women’s death and burial, for Buddha Biographies” (Ph.D. diss., University women were excluded from many of the of California, 2005). public manifestations of religion because of the centrality of the patriarchal-gendered Dalia Yasharpour worldview.

EEJIW_BatchJIW_Batch 22_1-145.indd_1-145.indd 8282 88/7/2009/7/2009 2:45:182:45:18 PMPM funerary, burial, and mourning practices 83 In Jewish communities, as in many other part of the ḥevra qadisha (sacred society; societies, the symbols and metaphors for Maghrebi Jud.-Ar. al-ḥebra; Neo-Aram. ḥav- death express the passage from the material rāye), which also included the grave-diggers to the spiritual through the use of images of and those who carried body. The ḥevra rebirth and the resurrection of the dead into qadisha was a basic charitable society in a new world where there is both spiritual and every Jewish community. Women members material compensation. Funeral ceremonies of the society heated the water for the wash- provide the living with a ritual of departure ing and sewed the burial clothes. In Iranian from the dead, and the ritual treatment of the and Afghan cities only the corpses of upper- body by relatives suggests a halfway situation class Jewish men were purified with water for the deceased, who is located between the scented with roses, myrtle, and other flowers two worlds. An example is the washing of the and herbs. In *Iran, a venerable and pious body and the use of perfuming materials, all individual received a “great washing” (Heb. typical of life, as opposed to the sealing of the reḥisạ gedola) that included many prayers body’s orifices. and more elaborate washing. In Kurdistan, if the deceased was a youth or a maiden, Preparation for Burial betrothal songs would be sung by women as Preparing the body for burial had three the body was washed. major stages: (2) Dressing. The body was dressed in (1) Washing and ritual purification t( aharạ ). burial clothing (Heb. takhrikhim), the style The body was stripped of clothing and cov- of which varied in different times and places. ered with a sheet, then thoroughly cleansed According to *Cairo Geniza documents, the of dirt. All jewelry was removed and then the profound reverence for the sanctity of the body was purified with water. It was custom- Sabbath found its expression in the wish to ary in Jewish communities under Islam for be buried in one’s Sabbath clothing. Consid- the body to be placed on the ground in the ering the attitudes toward nakedness, cloth- deceased’s house and covered with a sheet ing the dead body in several layers of until the purification. In *Tunisia a loaf of garments, including undergarments, but with bread or a piece of bread and a nail were put no jewelry was common among Jews and on the body. In Kurdistan a piece of iron was Muslims alike. Jewish men of higher status placed on it. Several customs were intended were buried in two cloaks, three robes, a to frighten the evil spirits, such as breaking washed turban of fine linen, new underdraw- an earthenware jar in front of the house of ers, and a new waistband?, all from the the deceased, pouring out water from the deceased man’s possessions. If the dead man house, and lighting a candle or an oil lamp belonged to the lower middle class, the cloth- (Ar. qandīl). Candles were also customarily ing was commonly a tunic, two robes, a lit at the head and foot of the body. In *Yemen cloak, and a scarf which also covered a large the shofar was blown several times and all part of the body. Wuḥsha, a successful and the windows and doors in the deceased’s independent Jewish businesswoman (late room were opened, with no one entering 11th–early 12th century), ordered for her until the departure of the neshama. burial a dabīqī (fine linen) robe, a mulāʾa The bodies of both women and men were (cloak), a talī (very fine linen) skullcap, a purified by laying them out on a wood plank wimple, a dabīqī kerchief, a veil, and a Tustari or a stone slab and washing them with per- kisāʾ (cloak) (Goitein, vol. 4, p. 188). The fumes, soap, rose water, or orange water. This corpses of both sexes were wrapped in white was done by members of the society of wash- sheets, and white strips (Ar. kafan or madraj) ers (Heb. ḥevrat roḥasiṃ , Ar. ghassālin, Pers. were used to tie the bodies. Shrouds were morde shūrhā and morde shūyhā) of the same a part of women’s trousseaux in upper- sex as the deceased. The ḥevrat roḥsiṃ was a class families in the Middle Ages, and their

EEJIW_BatchJIW_Batch 22_1-145.indd_1-145.indd 8383 88/7/2009/7/2009 2:45:192:45:19 PMPM 84 funerary, burial, and mourning practices decoration was similar to that of the wedding communities sons were not allowed to par- dress. Linen shrouds served as protection ticipate in their father’s funeral. The funeral against the evil eye and magic in some com- procession in Libya used to pass through the munities, and the remainders of rabbis’ synagogue, where the Qaddish prayer was shrouds were used by women to sew amulets said. In Yemen the mourners walked bare- for their children. In Judeo-Maghrebi soci- foot during the funeral procession and wore ety, the various items of clothing were usu- a black taliṭ . In both Yemen and *Baghdad, a ally made of linen or cotton fabric, and men’s *piyyut ̣by *Ibn Gabirol, Shokhne batte ḥomer corpses were dressed in them in a precise lamma tisʾu ʿayin (O dwellers of homes of order: the headdress (Jud.-Ar. ʿaraqiyya), clay, why do you raise your eye?), was trousers (Ar. sirwāl), an undergarment (Jud.- chanted as the body was brought into the Ar. qemizza), jacket (Jud.-Ar. qssot), head- graveyard. In Iran, dirges were sung in the band (Jud.-Ar. ʿ amāma), ritual prayer shawl funeral procession, and the anthropologist (Heb. taliṭ ) with the fringes often removed, Laurence Loeb observed in *Shiraz that “if and overcoat (Jud.-Ar. ujeh le-kfen). In *Yemen an especially beloved son had died, sorrow- a man’s hair was shaved after his death, ful Persian poetry was sung to the accompa- whereas women’s hair was not, as was the niment of the kemanje (spiked fiddle)” (Loeb, case while they were living. Men’s corpses pp. 206–227). In certain times and places, were dressed in their holiday clothes and Jewish funerals took place at night to avoid enveloped in the Sabbath cloak (Ar. shamla), harassment by Muslims who sometimes while women were dressed in their wedding regarded funeral processions as public dis- clothing (Ar. lūluwī). In *Libya the shoes of plays of religion in violation of the Pact of the dead were buried with the corpses so that ʿUmar. By contrast, in the southern Moroc- no one could wear them again. can region of *Oulad Mansour, Jewish funeral (3) Burial. Jewish burial takes place as processions customarily passed through Ber- soon as possible after death—usually on the ber villages, where the local Muslim inhabit- same day as the death, or, if not possible, the ants would ritually express their sorrow and, following day. The cemetery is a sacred place, if acquainted with the deceased, would join and in many countries, the tombs of saintly the procession. In the *Ghardaia oasis of the rabbis (Heb. and Jud.-Ar. saddiqiṃ ) were Algerian *Mzab, dust consisting of gold, sil- *pilgrimage sites. The cemetery was often ver, and soil from the Holy Land was scat- referred to euphemistically as bet ḥayyim tered as a farmer would sow grain as the (the house of the living) in Hebrew and cortege approached the cemetery. In Kurdis- Judeo-Arabic. The Hebrew term bet qeva- tan, a certificate of ownership for four cubits rot (graveyard) is also found. Throughout of earth in the Holy Land (Neo-Aram. ketavit *Morocco and parts of *Algeria, the common arba deraʾe qora) purchased from rabbinical *Judeo-Arabic term was meʿara (lit. cave in emissaries was placed in the deceased’s hand Heb.; cf. the Cave of Machpelah in Gen. 23). after the body was washed. This was also the name used in Yemen. In Before leaving the cemetery the mourners Libya, in addition to bet ḥayyim, Jews called washed their hands and did not dry them their cemetery in Judeo-Arabic metṭ ạ (lit. with a towel. Professional wailing women, as bed in Heb.). The body was carried on a bier was customary in the East, were paid to (called variously Heb. mitṭ ạ , Ar. lawḥa, Neo- praise the dead. Their loud cries and weeping Aram. shaqlit, or Kurd. darbaste) and buried externalized the emotions of loss and sorrow. with no coffin. The encirclement (Heb. haqa- In Iraq they were called ʿiddādāt (those who fot) of the corpse seven times in the cemetery enumerate the deceased’s qualities). The before the burial was a widespread practice. women engaged in gedīda, the custom of The presence of women in the funeral pro- scratching or gashing their faces as a sign of cession was not recommended, and in some mourning, even though it was specifically

EEJIW_BatchJIW_Batch 22_1-145.indd_1-145.indd 8484 88/7/2009/7/2009 2:45:202:45:20 PMPM funerary, burial, and mourning practices 85 prohibited in Lev. 19:28 and condemned by nite Jews did eat meat and drink wine. the rabbis, but often they limited it to sym- In Libya, mourners ate unleavened bread bolic ritualized gestures. throughout the seven days, perhaps because The land of the cemetery was purchased its Arabic name, fatīrạ , was reminiscent of with funds from the communal treasury or the Hebrew word petīrạ (passing away). In dedicated for this purpose by individuals. the *Maghreb the seven days of mourning There was no payment for the place of burial were referred to as “closed in” (Jud.-Ar. or the work of the buriers. The dead were la-zgeṛ, from Heb. hesger); elsewhere they buried in a special hierarchy determined by were called shivʿa (lit. seven), as throughout their socioeconomic status and sex. In Western Jewry. *Sefrou, Morocco, the society of gomle The Yiddish term yahrzeit (pronounced ḥasadim (those who perform acts of loving- variously yarsēṭ and yarsyat) in Judeo- kindness) was responsible for the burial of Maghrebian and some Middle Eastern com- Jews and for the traditional meal (seʿudat munities designates the anniversary of the havraʾa) in the mourners’ house. death, a custom adopted by Mediterranean Jews from medieval Ashkenazi Europe into Mourning the local languages and halakhic literature. A In all cultures, the mourning period is a unique custom in Jewish communities under period of passage for the living. During this Muslim regimes was the hashkava (lit. laying period, the dead person and the mourners to rest; pronounced hashkaba), the remem- are both part of one group, which is in a limi- brance of the deceased in the cemetery, in nal stage between the world of the living and the deceased’s house, or in the synagogue that of the dead. The Jewish mourning period through study of the Torah or a misvạ meal. is divided into three successive stages, each The remembrance prayers hashkava( ) were marked by prohibitions and rituals. The most said in the cemetery during the seven days of intensive mourning period is the seven days mourning and on the thirtieth day (Ar. following the death, a period marked by a shahr) ending the period known as the large number of taboos and prohibitions, sheloshim (lit. thirty), as well as on the anni- such as washing, changing one’s clothing, versary (Ar. al-ʿām). In Iranian communities using makeup, jewelry, and perfumes, and a mullah-tora khawān (reader of the Torah) wearing shoes. Men and women are not was invited during the seven days of mourn- allowed to cut their hair, men do not shave ing to read selections from the Torah and their beards for the whole first month after other legends in Hebrew and Persian as an the death, and in many communities large expression of mourning. In Iraq a profes- wall mirrors in the mourners’ home are cov- sional reader (Ar. qāri) was hired to read for ered. The most visible sign of the mourning the ascent of the deceased’s soul. These cus- period is the rending of the clothing of the toms are parallel to the Muslim practice of close relatives before the funeral begins. It having a Qurʾan-reciter. was customary for mourners to sit on the floor or later, under the influence of modern Graves and Gravestones Western customs, on low stools. The meal of The styles of gravestones (Heb. maṣevot) consolation (Heb. seʿudat havraʾa), the first varied widely even within a single country meal eaten on returning from the funeral, like Morocco, ranging from small natural traditionally consists of hard-boiled eggs and stones, with or without inscriptions, to raised other round foods. During the days of cenotaphs with compartments for memorial mourning, relatives and friends brought food candles, and to anthropomorphic graves with to the mourning house. In North Africa no symbolic indications of the gender of the meat was eaten and no wine was drunk deceased (see Muller-Lancet and Champault, except for mahyạ (fig brandy), whereas Yeme- pls. 228, 230–234). This was a result of the

EEJIW_BatchJIW_Batch 22_1-145.indd_1-145.indd 8585 88/7/2009/7/2009 2:45:202:45:20 PMPM 86 ghez, paul socioeconomic status of the deceased and Goldberg (Bloomington: Indiana University their families, on one hand, and of practices Press, 1996), pp. 288–311. assimilated from the surrounding Muslim Brauer, Erich. Ethnologie der jemenitischen Juden culture, on the other. Minna Rozen has noted (Heidelberg: Carl Winters Universitätsbuch- three principal types of Jewish gravestones in handlung, 1934). *Turkey. The first consists of small horizontal ——–. The Jews of Kurdistan, ed. Raphael Patai limestone ones from the seventeenth and (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1993). early eighteenth centuries with brief inscrip- Briggs, Lloyd Cabot, and Norina Lami Guède. tions, and these both increase in size with No More for Ever: A Saharan Jewish Town time. The other two types are prism-shaped (Cambridge, Mass.: Peabody Museum, 1964). and tablet-shaped. The former resembles a Hakohen, Mordechai. The Book of Mordechai, ed. and trans. Harvey E. Goldberg (London: coffin and has decorated sides. It sits directly Darf, 1993). on the ground or on an oblong foundation. Lancet-Muller, Aviva, and Dominique Cham- The tablet style is usually a large slab of mar- pault. La vie juive au Maroc: Arts et traditions ble sometimes up to six meters (20 feet) and, (Jerusalem and Tel Aviv: Musée d’Israël and in addition to the inscription, can have vege- Editions Stavit, 1986). tal designs (see Rozen, pp. 60–63, pls. 1–6). Loeb, Laurence L. Outcaste: Jewish Life in The Haskoy cemetery in *Istanbul is a fine Southern Iran (New York: Gordon & Breach, example of the influence of Ottoman culture 1977). and art on the Jewish manner of burial, as Ovadia, David. The Community of Sefrou, vol. can be seen in the decorations and in the 3 (Jerusalem: Daf-Hen, 1975) [Hebrew]. carving of a candle niche in combination Goitein, S. D. A Mediterrnean Society, vols. 2–5 with the shape of mihrāḅ or hilye. In Morocco (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of Cali- and Iran only important rabbis and ṣaddiqim fornia Press, 1971–88). were rewarded with magnificent gravestones; Qafiḥ, Yosef. Halikhot Teman (Jerusalem, Ben- in contrast, ordinary people had simple Zvi Institute, 2002). gravestones marked with their name and Rozen, Minna, “Batte ha-ʿAlmin ha-Yehudiyyim date of death. The name of the deceased was be-Turkya,” in Yehude Sefarad ba-Imperya ha- inscribed on a small gravestone in the vil- ʿUthmanit (Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 1988/89). lages of the Atlas Mountains, but in the cities the gravestones were large, reflecting Spanish Hadas Hirsch influence. In *Tetuan, Mogador (*Essaouira), and other cities of Spanish Morocco, the gravestones were embedded with long deco- rated inscriptions in fine Hebrew. The short- Ghez, Paul age of stones for gravestones in Baghdad at the beginning of the twentieth century led to the use of clay and bricks instead, with Paul Ghez was born in *Sousse, Tunisia, in inscriptions written on paper and covered 1898. At the age of eighteen, he was wounded with glass. while serving as a volunteer in a French artil- lery unit during World War I. After studying Bibliography law in France, he became a lawyer and joined Bar Levav, Avriel “Death, Burial and Mourn- the group around *La Justice, a newspaper ing,” in The Life Cycle, ed. Shalom Sabar (Jeru- that supported the *assimilation of Tunisian salem: Ben-Zvi Institute, 2006), pp. 306–307. Jews into French culture. He was also a mem- Bilu, Yoram, and André Levy. “Nostalgia and ber of the Jewish council and head of the vet- Ambivalence: The Reconstruction of Jewish- eran’s organization Les Anciens Combattants. Muslim Relations in Oulad Mansour,” in Sep- Ghez volunteered again for the French army hardi and Middle Eastern Jewries, ed. Harvey during World War II. From 1942 to 1943,

EEJIW_BatchJIW_Batch 22_1-145.indd_1-145.indd 8686 88/7/2009/7/2009 2:45:202:45:20 PMPM