Yizkor Book: circa ~1925
The
document to the right is one of 13 pages of a list of 408 names found in the
Chevra Kadisha Kovea Itim Latorah of Krakow. It is a list of names that was used
in order to say kaddish on the Yahrzeit of the person listed. To get listed, the
relatives usually had to make a donation. This was a widely known custom - or
minhag - among Jewish communities. The list is dated approximately from the
1920's to the 1930's. There are some dates that go back as early as 1646!
Notes:
1) Some names repeat themselves in the month of ADAR. When checking the Gregorian date,
attention should be given to whether the year was a leap year or not.
2) Not all the months of the year survived. There are 13 tablets, but in some cases there are two
tablets for one month. The missing months are: Tishrei, Cheshvan, Av, and Elul.
3) Illegible names are indicated by a '?'.
4) The female name 'Chaja' appears very often. This name was often added to the name of a
terminally ill individual. Bear this point in mind if this conflicts with other genealogical data.
5) Occasionally, a maiden name is given, and appears as X daughter of Z, wife of Y + Last name.
Sometimes, however, only a last name appears making it impossible to guess whether the surname is
that of the husband or the wife's maiden name. It should therefore be compared with other data.
6) The word 'segel' after some names does not mean a surname SEGEL. It stands for sgan l'cohen
meaning 'Levite'.
7) It is assumed that in this document, the Hebrew letters aleph resh stand for ishto reb,
meaning 'wife of'.
8) All names are a free transliteration from the Hebrew original.
9) The list is arranged according to the deceased's surname and name, name of father, Hebrew
month, day, and Hebrew year. Notes are occasionally added at the end of each line.
(Data provided by Alex Kerner. Thanks to Yale Reisner and staff of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, and the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation)
