Jamaica Cemetery, Gravestone Inscriptions
17th and 18th Centuries
Rachel Gill (d. 1726)
Gravestone of honorable old lady Sra Rachel, wife of the wealthy citizen the honorable R. Jacob Fernandes Gill, deceased, seventh day of Passover, 22 Nisan 5486
May her soul be bound up in the bond of everlasting life
In which is buried
The honorable, honest, virtuous and
Charitable lady, Raquel Fernandez
Gill, widow of her uncle, the honorable,
Virtuous and charitable Sr. Jacob
Fernandez Gill, of blessed memory,
With whom she lived married
In peace and perfect union for 13 years
And maintained her widowhood virtuously
For 55 years: died in Jamaica
Port Royal, aged 84 years
On the seventh day of Passover
Which is the 22nd of
Nisan 5486: which corresponds to
23 April 1726:
May her blessed soul enjoy
Eternal Glory, Amen.
Samuel de Lucena (d. 1680)
Of the pure and honest man who was summoned to the Heavenly Council, Samuel de Lucena, who was killed by a foe and cruel enemy on 3 Adar I, 1680. May the Lord of vengeance avenge him.
May his soul be bound up in the bond of everlasting life
Of the gentle virtuous and benevolent
Samuel de Lucena whose
Innocent blood was spilled by
The hand of the cruel murderous barbarian
On the 3rd of Adar I, 5440.
His soul is enjoying Glory.
Isaac Narbaes (d. 1687)
Of the honorable wealthy gentleman Isaac Narbaes z''l
And the Lord granted his prayer
On the 5th day of the month of Nisan 5447
May his soul be bound up in the bond of everlasting life.
The corpse that lies buried here
Is now bereft of its mortal being
In the midst of his years he was summoned
To enjoy the role of a chosen one
By all and sundry condoled
For his virtue by all lamented
Dead may the fatal Fate not consider him
For in the repose of the good he sleeps
It is humankind’s inherited destiny
To be subject to the common fall
From which Death no one spares.
It serves as a comfort in his early death
That although his brief life has ended
The memory of the just man never dies.
[Border, in English:] Here lyeth the body of Mr. Isaac Narbaes Merchant who departed this life the 10th of March 1687 that is the fifth of Nisan 5447 from the Creation of the world.
Translated by .
David
Herman
This map showing tombs in the land of Israel was drawn in Italy by a Jewish scribe and is an example of a “pilgrimage scroll.” Pilgrimage scrolls, also known as itineraries, included visual and textual directions for visiting holy sites. This map appears in a manuscript, titled Yiḥus ha-avot (Genealogy of the Patriarchs).
Credits
Richard David Barnett and Philip Wright, The Jews of Jamaica: Tombstone Inscriptions, 1663–1880, ed. Oron Yoffe (Jerusalem: Ben Zvi Institute, 1997), pp. 5, 7, 9, 14.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.
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All Is God’s
Man has separated lust and sorrow.
But God holds them together like day and night.
I know lust. I know intense suffering.
I praise God’s one name.
Translated by David Soeterndorp.
Me’ore or (Luminescence of Light)
Since the theme of the Noachide commandments has arisen for consideration, I shall mention here what I presented before the assembly of rabbis in the great city [Paris] in the year 5567 [1807], and it…
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