Tip of the month: hebrew epitaphs
פ”נ
הישה הישרה והנכבדה
מרת
פיגלכא
אשת כ’ אברהם גרינטהאל
ז”ל
נפטרה ביום א’ ר”ח סיון
ונקברה ביום ב’ ב’ בו תר”ז לפ”ק
תנצב”ה
The example shows a tombstone with a typical Hebrew inscription from the database “Jewish Cemeteries in Brandenburg” The dates of death and burial are written in Hebrew according to the Jewish calendar, which starts its “year one” with the Creation of the World and came up with a calendar that begins 3760 years before the Christian calendar.
For example, the current jewish year 5769 will be written as 769, but the 5000 is usually left off. To compute the civil (Gregorian) year, simply add the number 1240 to the shortened Hebrew year. The letters of the Hebrew Alphabet each have a numerical value, specified in the accompanying chart.
In our example, we read from right to left Tav, Resh, Zain which in numbers is 400+200+7, the Jewish year 607. By using our formula 607 plus 1240 the civil year of death is 1847.
