why do jews put small stone`s on a grave?

Answer 1

My family were not very orthodox but when it comes to funerals Jews do have different customs. Everything must be done within 24 hours and someone must stay by the deceased to ensure they are guaranteed security and dignity in death, as in life. Orthodox Jews do not accept cremation and most Jews were buried in rabbinically blessed cemetaries. Flowers are not used at Jewish funerals nor in the cemetaries. I was told that flowers were seen as inappropriate for a funeral as they are used to commemorate happy occasions. Furthermore they are inappropriate at tombs because this smacks of ancestor worship and pagan idolatry, a stone is a simple commemoration that reminds us all that from earth (adam) we came and to earth we return.
Shalom

Answer 2

Jew­ish authorities have often objected to bringing flowers to the grave. There are scattered talmudic mentions of spices and twigs used in burial (Berakhot 43a, Betzah 6a). Yet the prevailing view was that bringing flowers smacks of a pagan custom.

That is why today one rarely sees flowers on the graves in tra­ditional Jewish cemeteries. Instead there are stones, small and large, piled without pattern on the grave, as though a community were being haphazardly built. Walking in the military cemetery of Jerusalem, for example, one can see heaps of stones on the graves of fallen soldiers, like small fortresses.

The superstitious rationale for stones is that they keep the soul down. There is a belief, with roots in the Talmud, that souls con­tinue to dwell for a while in the graves in which they are placed. The grave, called a beit olam (a permanent home), was thought to retain some aspect of the departed soul.

Stones are more than a marker of one's visit; they are the means by which the living help the dead to "stay put." Even souls that were benign in life can, in the folk imagination, take on a certain terror in death. The "barrier" on the grave prevents the kind of haunting that formed such an important part of East European Jewish lore. The stories of I. B. Singer and the plays of the Yiddish theater are rich in the mythology of East European Jewry: souls that return, for whatever reason, to the world of the living. One explanation for placing stones on the grave is to insure that souls remain where they belong.

Answer 3

Where ever something important happened then the Jews put stones in commemoration. I'm not Jewish but I place a stone where my Dads ashes are scattered every time I visit. I feel it's something natural beautiful and solid that means something to me for him like a link of emotion. Stones feel similar to tears for me that mean my love is still alive. I love my tears for my Dad and I love the stones that talk about my solid immovable love for my Dad. In some way the Rock is significant of God.

This is just me sending the monkey up the flag pole you may need to talk to a Jewish person.

Answer 4

it's a ritual of remembrance, some native american tribes do it too, my family adopted the tradition also. The stone has special meaning or something written on it. Just like planting flowers at a grave.

Answer 5

that's real. The action picture confirmed Schindler's grave. Stones are the thank you to instruct admire. to instruct in a seen way that somebody replaced into there who cared and that the deceased meant something it quite is tangible. vegetation wilt and die yet rocks are eternal as is the affection and/or admire which you have for the deceased. i'm Jewish and that i think of that's a remarkable custom myself.

Answer 6

It's just a custom, not a requirement. Probably originated with the requirement to erect a monument. Placing a small stone is erecting a monument. From my experience, the cemetary workers will remove them all each spring.

Answer 7

I watched someone do this the other night on the television,he said it was just to let the person know someone had visited and they havent been forgotten,much the same as why we take flowers really.

Answer 8

I know Mr. Schindler's grave has a ton of them though.

Answer 9

it means pretty much the same as flowers. since flowers don't last that long, stones are used...and letters are sometimes placed under them too.

Answer 10

They can't afford large stones