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The Jewish tradition for both weddings and funerals is that any Jew can recite [the prayers that need to be recited], it doesn’t matter as long as he knows what needs to be recited. At funerals, both the muhla and the Kaddish are recited. The son must recite the Kaddish, if there is no son, then someone else must do it, but it must be a family member: the husband of the deceased – if the deceased is a woman –, the brother of the deceased. In order to recite the Kaddish, at least 10 adult Jews must be present. You can recite the muhla alone, without any Jew present, the person who conducts the burial ceremony recites it. And you must also recite Tzadik Adem, a paragraph from a book – that book is called Mona Lusi – either in the room where they dress the dead, or at the burial site, before placing the body inside the grave.
I sat shivah after my parents. You sit on the ground for 7 days. After that, men must say a prayer at the synagogue for 11 months without a day – they recite the Kaddish – for the dead – for there must be at least 10 people present when this prayer is recited – every day, including Saturdays. I went to the synagogue every day to recite the Kaddish for my parents, for there was a religious service every day. Now they no longer perform the religious service every day.
Usually, it is customary to lay the [funeral] tombstone 1 year after someone dies. But in Israel they do it after 30 days. It also depends on when you find the money for it. I believe I laid my mother’s tombstone after about 2 years, if not more, as I couldn’t find marble. I wanted to build a larger marble plaque and I couldn’t find the marble for it. This was during the Ceausescu [7] regime, you couldn’t find marble in those days. Anyway, I found some eventually and I built the tombstone. My father had also died by then, and that’s why I know that I had it built after 2 years. You must say another prayer by the tombstone [when it is laid], to inaugurate it.
I sat shivah after my parents. You sit on the ground for 7 days. After that, men must say a prayer at the synagogue for 11 months without a day – they recite the Kaddish – for the dead – for there must be at least 10 people present when this prayer is recited – every day, including Saturdays. I went to the synagogue every day to recite the Kaddish for my parents, for there was a religious service every day. Now they no longer perform the religious service every day.
Usually, it is customary to lay the [funeral] tombstone 1 year after someone dies. But in Israel they do it after 30 days. It also depends on when you find the money for it. I believe I laid my mother’s tombstone after about 2 years, if not more, as I couldn’t find marble. I wanted to build a larger marble plaque and I couldn’t find the marble for it. This was during the Ceausescu [7] regime, you couldn’t find marble in those days. Anyway, I found some eventually and I built the tombstone. My father had also died by then, and that’s why I know that I had it built after 2 years. You must say another prayer by the tombstone [when it is laid], to inaugurate it.
Period
Location
Botosani
Romania
Interview
Solomon Meir