Tag #119101 - Interview #101860 (Marcel Simon )

My father died on the 18th February 1969 at the age of 65. At that time there were Jews in Suceava and he had a normal Jewish funeral. The windows and the mirror are covered and the dead is put on the ground with the feet towards the door until they come and put him in the coffin. There was a man from the Community, who used to come and wash the dead and clothe him. He dressed in cerecloth, as they dress him nowadays, too. It’s not the way it is at the Orthodox, where they usually dress one in good or new clothes. Cerecloth is made of white linen, a pair of trousers and a shirt are made, and over it, on the head a cloth is put, which covers the eyes. For those who were believers they put the tallith, too. And then they put him in the coffin. They keep the dead at home. But you know how it was: you die today, and within 24 hours at most, they bury you. We made the coffins. They aren’t normal coffins. They have to be made out of unplanned fir plank, they have to be dry like a box, and it is narrower at the feet, just like a man is. Nails are used, metal nails, because the coffin is closed. At that time there was a hearse, a carriage with a horse, which was owned by the Community, and the dead was taken to the cemetery with that. My brother and I, I remember, went in front of the dead and prayed in the cemetery. And women are buried next to women, and men next to men. The wife is next to the husband, but on the other side of the woman another woman is buried, not a man. And next to the man, another man. At the Jews there isn’t any kind of burial feast, as it is customary at the Orthodox. And the one who performs [the funeral] cuts the clothes of the relative of the dead, and you have to wear those clothes for 8 days. Practically he doesn’t cut it until it tears, it’s something symbolic, it shows that you have lost someone and a piece was torn from your soul. And men aren’t supposed to shave or had cut their hair for 30 days. And you have to sit 8 days on the floor [E.M.: In Moldova I met the custom of observing eight days of shivah instead of seven days.], to wear only socks, and you aren’t allowed to leave the house, someone else has to do the shopping for you. This was possible once, but now it is very difficult. We couldn’t observe shivah, as it should be observed for 8 days, we observed it intermittently– we had to go to work. And after this 8 day period is over, after you had observed shivah, for 11 months you have to come to the synagogue every Saturday and recite the Kaddish – commemoration for the dead. I didn’t go because I couldn’t, I was at work. All these can’t be observed anymore. After 30 days a small ceremony is made at the synagogue, a kind of requiem, some prayers are said and challah and some drinks are brought to the synagogue. After a year, during this time the earth sets, you have to make the monument, to put a stone on the grave. A stone is made with both Romanian and Hebrew inscription.