Gravestone of Rachel Pereira

1721

Tombstone with inscription in Hebrew and Portuguese above floral motifs and engraving of hand with an ax reaching out of cloud to chop down tree. — Rachel Soares Pereira, who died in 1721 at the age of twenty-four, was married to Isaac Pereira. Floral motifs decorate the top of her gravestone, while the bottom panel contains a relief of a hand with an ax, reaching out of a cloud, to chop down a tree. This sort of symbolism was common on Jewish gravestones when someone died young. The Pereiras were members of a Sephardic Jewish community that originated with refugees from the Spanish Inquisition. By the time Rachel died, Jews made up 18 percent of Jamaica’s population.

Rachel Soares Pereira, who died in 1721 at the age of twenty-four, was married to Isaac Pereira. Floral motifs decorate the top of her gravestone, while the bottom panel contains a relief of a hand with an ax, reaching out of a cloud, to chop down a tree. This sort of symbolism was common on Jewish gravestones when someone died young. The Pereiras were members of a Sephardic Jewish community that originated with refugees from the Spanish Inquisition. By the time Rachel died, Jews made up 18 percent of Jamaica’s population.