Unknown Cemetery
An old photo I came across in a box of old letters and business
cards. Help solve the puzzle of where this is, whose stone is
featured, why my parents or grandparents might have kept this
and what should be done with the information we discover.
On the center back is stamped:
G. Hubner, Photograph
Gottingen, Gronerildstr.29
Close up of lettering on stone below.
For a close up of the name at the top of the stone
and the date at the bottom, click here
For an enlargment of the text in the center, click
here
Greatly enlarged image
of text
Solving the Mystery
Over the last months, bit by bit, I have asked for help translating
the lettering on the stone, researching the man who was buried
here. A number of people have provided information.
Translation of the Hebrew at the top of the stone. (Words
abbreviated in Hebrew are in parentheses below.)
(Here lies)
The Rav, great in the Torah
and in fear (of Heaven ), [Our Rav and Teacher], Moshe [of blessed
memory]
[son of] Ya'akov Soloveichik, Head of the Great Yeshiva of Suwalki
(Thanks to cousin Stan Goodman, of Israel for
the translation.)
Dr. Ida Selavan Schwarcz responded to my question about Moshe
SOLOVEICHIK, Head of the Great Yeshiva of Suwalki, posted to
the JewishGen newsgroup.
She had translated the entire Suwalki Yizker Book into English
12 years ago and looked up Rabbi Moshe in the index.
On page 120 of the Suwalki Yizker Book there is this passage:
Rabbi Moshe son of Rabbi Ya'akov Soleviechick, son-in-law
of the elder
of the religious court judges Rabbi Naftali Prendel, was active
in
community work in Suwalk. He died in Gottingen in 1896.
According to Encyclopedia Judaica, there is a large rabbinic
family named Soloveichik, and although there are people named
Moshe and Yakov, there is no Moshe son of Yakov listed in the
1972 edition. Suwalki is not mentioned in any Soloveichik biography.
A very helpful person e-mailed me after he read my JewishGen
posting and looked at the scans of the gravestone. He pointed
out that:
" It does not say "HaLevi" after his name
on the stone. The famous SOLOVEICHIK Rabbinic family were Levites
and that was invariably given as an integral part of their name
on title pages of their publications, gravestones, etc."
Someone in Jerusalem who subscribes to JewishGen took the
time to speak to the head of the Yeshivas Toras Moshe (an American
yeshiva in Jerusalem named for Rabbi Moshe SOLOVEICHIK, the first
born son of Rabbi Chaim Soloveichik of the famous Lithuanian
rabbinic family). The head of the Yeshiva is the grandson of
Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik.
The rabbi said that there were two Soloveichik families in
Lithuania, one of which were Leviim (his, the famous rabbinic
one); the other family were Yisroel.
If more details are uncovered, they will be included here.
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