0
Some traditions have some kind of reason when they start, but after a couple of hundred years, the reason people still do them is usually "because that's what we've always done." Sometimes people will even come up with a reason that seems to make sense, even if it's not the same reason the custom started to begin with.
Opinion is divided on whether it's even a Jewish tradition or if it originated with some other culture and the Jews have just preserved it after the originators abandoned it. At least one Rabbi claims it originated from an ancient custom of putting rocks on graves to keep animals out and evil spirits in.
Wiki User
∙ 11y ago
Wiki User
∙ 6y ago1. The Midrash Lekach Tov (Pesikta Zutra 35:20) relates that each of Jacob's sons took a stone and put it on Rachel's grave to make up Rachel's tomb. From this we learn that by placing stones on the grave one participates in building up the tombstone. In those days one did not mark a grave with marble or granite and a fancy inscription, but one made a cairn of stones over it. Each mourner coming and adding a stone was effectively taking part in the Mitzvah of matzevah ("setting a marker") as well as a symbolic levayat ha-meyt ("accompanying the dead"). Our present practice seems to be commemorative of this ancient tradition.
2. The book Ta'amey Ha-Minhagim (The Reasons for the Customs, pp. 470-471) says, "We put pebbles on the grave to show that the visitor was at the grave. It was a sort of calling-card for the honor of the deceased, to mark that you have paid a visit." (See also Orach Haim 224:8).A contemporary respondent, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, confirms this custom, noting Eliyahu Rabba 224:7 as his source (Responsa Yabia Omer IV, Yoreh Deah 35).
Wiki User
∙ 9y agoThe Midrash Lekach Tov (Pesikta Zutra 35:20) relates that each of Jacob's sons took a stone and put it on Rachel's grave to make up Rachel's tomb. From this we learn that by placing stones on the grave one participates in building up the tombstone. In those days one did not mark a grave with marble or granite and a fancy inscription, but one made a cairn of stones over it. Our present practice seems to be commemorative of this ancient tradition.
See also the Related Link.
Add your answer:
Earn +20 pts
How do you separate big stones from little stones?
put the big ones in one pile and put the not so big ones in a separate pile therefore the small stones are separate from the large stones
Why are stones on Oskar Schindler's grave?
It is Jewish tradition to put stones on one's grave.
How much is 120.5 kilos in stones?
18.9755019 stones == Google will do this for you, just put in "120.5 kilos to stones".
When did the Jews put the Nazis in consentration camps?
The first time Jews were put into concentration camps for being Jewish was after Kristalnacht, some were returned, some perished and others stayed in the system. In 1940 some were held in labour camps, but it was not really until 1941 that Jews were rounded up and put wholesale into concentration camps.
Where did they put the corner stones on the great pyramid to ensure it all matched up?
they put the stones in a certain order and then put the mud to keep them in place
Do they put dysentery in Jews?
I think they did to kill the Jews.
Why do Jews put paper in cracks of western wall?
The Jews put prayers &notes in the cracks
Were at the bottom of the social structure in Egypt?
The slaves especially those who put put to work building the monuments, working in the mines and quarries.
When did the Nazis put the Jews in ghettos?
basically as soon as the Germans occupied a country, they would put the Jews into ghettos.
Did the allies do anything to the Jews who had worked for the Nazis as guards?
There were no 'Jewish guards'. A very small number of Jewish Kapos were convicted of murder and put to death.
What is the role of students to protect monuments?
to preserve the monument we should put the banners all around.
Did native Americans put rocks around camp fires?
Your question assumes that all native Americans were alike and did the same things, which is a false assumption. For example, studies of the camp sites of some north-eastern Woodlands tribes shows that fires were made on a small platform of small stones, not surrounded by stones. Many hearths and fireplaces in other areas had no stones at all, while some were surrounded by a row of stones; each tribe had its own customs and traditional ways of doing things.
