By: Rabbi Dajan Raphael Evers
After visiting a grave, Jews place a small stone on the "matseva," the gravestone, in honor of the deceased. What is the meaning behind this tradition?
Throughout his life, Jacob erected many memorial stones, not only over the grave of his beloved wife Rachel. He erected the first after his dream of the ladder standing on the earth, its top reaching into heaven. After Jacob laid his head on the rock and had his famous dream of the ascending and descending angels, Genesis 28:18 states: “And Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up as a memorial stone.”
Why is a stone usually used for graves and monuments? It is an ancient custom to place a memorial stone over the grave of a deceased person. That our third patriarch, Jacob, placed a memorial stone on the grave of his wife Rachel is recorded in Genesis 35:20: “So Rachel died and was buried on the road to the Ephrates, that is, Bethlehem. And Jacob put a stone on her grave.” This custom is also described in other books of the Bible. A memorial stone is called a “matsevah” in Hebrew. This literally means “something that is erected.”.
The stone "rises" above the grave, marking the place where a deceased person is buried. It allows relatives to recognize the grave, visit it, and pray there for the living in remembrance of the deceased. When visiting a grave, it is a Jewish custom to place one's hand on the "matsevah" and recite the verse from Isaiah 58: "The Lord will continually guide you; he will give you drink in dry places and strengthen your bones. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. You will rest in peace until the Comforter, the Peacemaker, comes." The memorial stone is further extended by adding smaller stones.
Upon leaving the grave, one places a small stone on the "matseva" in honor of the deceased, as a sign that one has visited their grave. Others see it as a symbol of lasting remembrance. By adding a small stone, one continues to build the memorial stone as a reminder of the person buried there.
Why stone as the material?
Returning to the original question: Why do we use stone for gravestones and monuments? To better understand this, let's first take a brief philosophical detour. We generally divide nature into four levels. The lowest level is inanimate matter. Stone is an obvious example of this. Then comes flora, the plant world. Higher still is fauna, the animal world. The pinnacle of creation is humankind. When we compare these two extremes, the difference between a human being and a stone seems insurmountable. Humans possess intelligence and language; stone is inanimate. On the other hand, Genesis 3 states of humankind: "For you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
Human beings are mortal, but a stone endures for a very long time, perhaps forever. We walk over stones without giving them much thought. Yet they exist for a long time. But humans and stones are also similar in many ways. When people realize their (religious) potential, they can have a lasting impact, sometimes even spanning millennia. We still read daily about such figures of eternal value. They are "carved in stone" because they have something to tell all future generations.
Like everything in this world, things can be used for good and for bad. What is true for a stone is also true for every person. If they misuse their God-given talents, they do no good. But if they use their God-given potential for good, they can draw near to God and remain forever interesting.
Personal Revelation
The rabbis tell us that the stone on which the patriarch Jacob slept was the stone upon which the Temple later rested. Let us now return for a moment to the memorial stone that Jacob erected there. According to Rabbi Moshe, the son of Rabbi Nachman, Jacob did not place this stone on the Temple Mount, but further away in the town of Bethel (Hebrew for "House of God"). Why did Jacob carry this stone so far? Some see this stone as a form of confirmation of the inspiration received during a conversation with God. Symbolically, Jacob carried this inspiration from above to another location. This remains an important lesson today. When we receive inspiration from heaven at a particular time, it is not a one-time event, and we should not keep it to ourselves. We must carry these heavenly inspirations with us wherever we go.
Let us hold onto this divine energy, anchor it in our personality as firmly as a rock, take it with us everywhere, and share it with everyone. These reflections invite contemplation
Rabbi Dayan Raphael Evers was the chief rabbi in Düsseldorf. In the summer of 2021, he and his wife made Aliyah to Israel.
This article first appeared in our newspaper "Israelaktuell," issue 128. You can order the newspaper free of charge here: www.csi-aktuell.de/israelaktuell. We would also be happy to send you several copies for distribution.
