A Chevra Kadisha (Hebrew: חֶבְרָה קַדִּישָׁא, "holy society") is a society whose exclusive function is to ensure the dignified treatment of the deceased in accordance with Halacha (Jewish law) as well as the custom and tradition of the local Jewish community. Men prepare the bodies of men, ladies prepare those of ladies. The English-language term "burial society" became widespread in the 19th century, when chevra kadisha societies were formed as mutual aid societies in the United States.
Many burial societies hold one or two annual fast days and organize regular study sessions to remain up-to-date with the articles of Jewish law relevant to the cleansing of the deceased bodies and the burial rituals and prayers. Additionally, most burial societies also support the family of the deceased during the shiv'ah (traditional week of mourning) by arranging prayer services, meals and other facilities.
The different burial societies of Jewish communities in pre-WW2 Europe maintained books named Pinkas Klali D’Chevra Kadisha (general notebook of the Chevra Kadisha) mostly handwritten in Yiddish, while a number of them were written in Hebrew. These books contain information such as member rules for caring of the dead, the process of tahara and the dressing of the dead in shrouds. These also contain lists of the deceased are provided along with their burial locations.[1]
The records of the chevra kadisha can attest to the history of a community and help further the family research of an individual for generations, despite this record-keeping not being mandatory as per Jewish Law.
Burial records from across the worldBurial records from across the world
Pale of SettlementPale of Settlement
There were at least 1,846 burial societies in the Pale of Settlement (the area of the Russian Empire that existed between 1791 and 1917 where Jews were allowed to reside permanently) taking into account that each town had one, but in some cities, there may have been more, either due to the size of the city or caused by a split in the society. Of these, the pinkas klali of the chevra kadisha of Slutsk (located in today's Belarus) is perhaps the largest to survive the Holocaust, both in the number of pages and years covered, with entries made for 244 years, between 1680 to 1924.
CuraçaoCuraçao
A dozen of families settled in the Dutch colony of Curaçao in 1651, and a decade later, almost every ship that arrived on the island from Amsterdam brought at least one Jewish family. Not long after their arrival, the Jews established a burial society, which they named Beth Haim and whose 3,840 records are available online.
PolandPoland
The non-profit organization JRI-Poland is working on the digitization of the records from the Lodz chevra kadisha that cover the period between 1826 and 1893, which includes 2,031 records.[2]
ReferencesReferences
- ↑ A Plain Pine Box: A Return to Simple Jewish Funerals and Eternal Traditions, Rabbi Arnold M. Goodman, 1981, 2003, KTAV Publishing House, ISBN 0881257877
- ↑ Łódź Chevra Kadisha Records Indexing Project