Szczuczyn / Shchuchyn Jewish Cemetery

Another overview. Here you can really see how the garages adjoin the cemetery

This stone is so weathered, it's hard to tell the properly exposed portion has an inscription

Yehuda son of Abraham(יהודא בן אברהם) perhaps the month Cheshvan 2 lines below. Read by Yehuda Atlas

This stone was very difficult. Click here for Shahar Stein's improvement.

(abbreviation “Here is buried”)

“Our teach the master” Shimon

Srul (abbreviation “son of”) Shmalo Srul

?? (abbreviation of “died”) 30 Shvat 5651

However, he says:

Looking more carefully I think that the glyph for the letterך (Kaf Sofit) was mistaken for the correct glyph

for ל (Lamed).or that they used an unconventional design for the letter

Thus שרוך becomes שרול Srul (version of Israel)

שמאךו becomes שמאלו shmuelu version of Shmuel

And the first letter before the Hebrew month שבט is now ל equal to 30

As you can see there is no good fit in the locations I have placed the Lamed (ל) .

Also I am not too happy with שמאלו Shmuelo

The Alef Lamed Vav("אלו") I read might be a very damaged Aain Vav Nun(“עון”) turning the name to שמעון Shimon.

In that case it would read “Shimon Srul son of Shimon Srul” which is also an option that makes sense.

Click here for both versions - Shimon on top, Shmalu below

פ"נ

מוה' שמעון

שרול בר' שמאלו שרול

? נ ל שבט תרנא

This stone is so weathered it's hard to make out there was Hebrew inscription there. Yehuda Atlas sees the name Yitzchak -perhaps - but can't tell if it's the person or the father.

Another overview

This stone is so overexposed, it can't be read

Another try at this stone, also too overexposed.

The contrasting lighting makes this one impossible to read.

(abbreviation "Here is buried")

My father my teacher and an honest

And straight man the Rabbinic our teacher the master Tzvi son of Avraham [Yehu]da

[hidden part] [Te]vet 5646

Read by Shahar Stein; "Yehuda" isn't certain & there might be an extra (unexplained)

yud between Tevet and the year.

פ"נ

אבי מורי ואיש

תם וישר הרבני מוה

צבי בר אברהם [יהו]דה

[???] [ט]בת תרמו

A closeup of the stone above, read by Yehuda Atlas

My father, a modest and straight man, the learned,
my teacher (honorific) Tzvi son of Avraham.
[And] his soul departed on 25 Tevet, year 5646. (Jan 2, 1886)

אבי מורי, איש

תם וישר, הרבני מו"ה

צבי ב"ר אברהם. וי"נ כ"ה

טבת ש' תרמ"ו.

Between moss and debris, no lettering visible.

The circular decoration at the top is all that's discernible.

This one is so weathered, its hard to tell there used to be an inscription on it. It's also clear that for some stones at least, the back was not cut, so that the stone has uniform thickness.

A pair of overexposed stones.

My master my father

My teacher an honest and straight man

Remembered god

and kept his laws

With faith, the Rabbinic

Our teacher the master Dov Leib son of reb

Yitzhak Wiener ___ 16

____year 5620/5680/5609

(Abbr) “May his soul be bound by the bond of life”

My master my father

My teacher an honest and straight man

Remembered god

and kept his laws

With faith, the Rabbinic

Our teacher the master Dov Leib son of reb

Yitzhak Wiener (abbr. “may his light shine on”) 5 Kislev

year 5620/5680/5609

(Abbr) “May his soul be bound by the bond of life”

My master my father

My teacher an honest and straight man

Remembered god

and kept his laws

With faith, the Rabbinic

Our teacher the master Dov Leib son of reb

Yitzhak Wiener (abbr. “honor to his holiness ”) ___

____year 5620/5680/5609

(Abbr) “May his soul be bound by the bond of life”

My master my father

My teacher an honest and straight man

Remembered god

and kept his laws

With faith, the Rabbinic

Our teacher the master Dov Leib son of reb

Yitzhak Wiener 2[2] Tish[rei]

year 5620/5680/5609

(Abbr) “May his soul be bound by the bond of life”

My master my father

My teacher an honest and straight man

Remembered god

and kept his laws

With faith, the Rabbinic

Our teacher the master Dov Leib son of reb

Yitzhakoy Died 5 Kislev

year 5620/5680/5609

(Abbr) “May his soul be bound by the bond of life”

I am not sure about the three letters after וינר (Wiener)

No clear name of the month is visible. It might be due to damage in the right side of the line8 (hence the space I put there) . if that is the case that it must have been a short word so likely to be “Av”

The year count looks like (5)620 but the Kaf (=20) might be a different square letter like Peh (פ=80)

But as you will see most issues are with line 7

The difference from option 1 is the possibility that the letters "וינר" are actually "ו ינ ה" .

The YUD NUN “ינ” after יצחק stands for “יאיר נרו” (may his light keep on. Meaning the father was still alive)

The Hai “ה” can then stand for the count of days (=5) before the word that should then be the month . That month name will start with KAF “כ” leaving the only possibility to be Kislev “כסליו “so the date becomes 5Kislev 5620 or 5680

The problem with this is that there is an extra YUD within the word “כסליו” that is usually written without it, as “כסלו”

There is also the matter of the extra Vav letter (ו) after the name of the father (Yitzhak) this might be acceptable if the name is יצחקו = Yizhako and not Yizhak.

The difference from option 1 is the possibility that the second of the three red letters (after Weiner) is actually a damaged KUF (“ק”). In that case with the KAF before it they can form the abbreviation for "כבוד קדושת" that can be translated as honor to his holiness. The issue with that is that the last of the three letters, KUF , then does not make any sense. Nor the last two letter in that row that can be YUD ZAIN (=16) or a weathered SHIN (maybe the beginning of a damaged שבט (month of Shvat) . if it is indeed the beginning of a damaged word Shvat then the KUF might be a damaged Hai (=5) .

The difference from option1 is that the second letter after “וינר” might be a damaged BET and the RAISH might be a damaged TAF and the YUD ZAIN might be a damaged SHIN. In such case the KAF BET are equal 22 and the TAF SHIN can be the beginning of the month Tishrei that has the last part of it missing entirely .

The difference from option1 is that in this case the “יצחק וינר” is split differently “יצחקוי נ ה”

The NUN is now short for “died” and the Hai is now the designation of the day (5)

The following word will need to be the month so we are left with Kislev again and still have the extra YUD in it. And nothing is expected missing at the beginning of line

Hebrew option 1

Hebrew options2

Hebrew option3

Hebrew option4

Hebrew option5

(1)אדוני אבי

(2)מורי איש תם

(3)וישר זכר ה

(4)ומצותיו שמר

(5)באמונה הרבני

(6)מוה דוב ליב בר

(7)יצחק וינר כ?ר יז

(8)____שנת תרכ/תרפ/תרט לפק

(9)תנצבה

אדוני אבי

מורי איש תם

וישר זכר ה

ומצותיו שמר

באמונה הרבני

מוה דוב ליב בר

יצחקו י"נ ה כסליו

שנת תרכ/תרפ/תרט לפק

תנצבה

אדוני אבי

מורי איש תם

וישר זכר ה

ומצותיו שמר

באמונה הרבני

מוה דוב ליב בר

יצחק וינר כ"ק [="כבוד קדושת"] ___

____שנת תרכ/תרפ/תרט לפק

תנצבה

אדוני אבי

מורי איש תם

וישר זכר ה

ומצותיו שמר

באמונה הרבני

מוה דוב ליב בר

יצחק וינר כ"[ב] תש[רי]

שנת תרכ/תרפ/תרט לפק

תנצבה

אדוני אבי

מורי איש תם

וישר זכר ה

ומצותיו שמר

באמונה הרבני

מוה דוב ליב בר

יצחקוי נ ה כסליו

שנת תרכ/תרפ/תרט לפק

תנצבה

Read by Shahar Stein. Click here for his processing of the picture.

This stone is overgrown by stinging nettles. If you've never experienced them, they can get you right through blue jeans & the pain is something else, though you don't end up with a long-term rash like with poison ivy.

This one might have fallen face down. The surface looks too rough to have had an inscription.

Shimon or Shimson, or Shimson Shalom. Father's name on line below covered by plants. Read by Rivka Ben-Shochet and Geraldine Tsiporah Trom

Moss and weathering make this illegible.

Weathering has faded this inscription too much.

(abbreviation "here is buried")

My dear mother Mrs

Ilka/Elka/Alka daughter of reb Mordechai [Tzvi 1]

[5?] Menachem Av 5651

(abbreviation "May Her soul be bound by the bond of life"

פ"נ

אמי היקרה מרת

עלקה בת ר' מרדכי צב[י1]/יום

[ה?] מנחם אב שנת תרנ"א

תנצבה

Read by Shahar Stein

1. After the name Mordechai it looks like the letters Yud and Nun Bet. The YUD and Nun might actually be the letter Tsadi creating the beginning of Tzvi. Or they might actually be the word YUM יום meaning "day"
not clear.

Another stone in nettles, with burdock. Shahar Stein read what's visible.

Abbreviation "here is buried"

My dear mother ….

[unclear parts of letter]

פ"נ

אמי היקרה [...]

___ס הצו___

More nettles and severe weathering.

The inscription's barely visible.

The top has broken off and there's obscuring dirt. Nonetheless, Shahar Stein read the following:

Abbreviation "here is buried"

An honest and straight man

[???] Tzvi son of

Israel [or Shmuel] Cha[im]

[פ]"נ

איש תם וישר

[???]צבי בר'

י[שר]א[ל?]/שמואל חיי[ם?]

The next image is of this stone after Jan cleaned it somewhat

Shahar Stein read:

Abbreviation "here is buried"

The humble and righteous woman [midwife?]

Mrs Rachel Leah daughter of____

____ day 5 Tevet

[year] 56?6, where the missing digit is is 4,5, or 7 If it's 4, it would be 13 Dec 1885; if 7, 12 Dec 1915

פ"נ

האשה הצנועה

החסודה [המילדת?]

מרת רחל לאה בר ____

____ יום ה טבת

[שנת] [תר]?ו

Read by Shahar Stein

Streams of
water shed my eyes on
the passing of my mother, the humble and righteous woman , “a dove for man”
that broke? __
____ with soul ___

פלגי
מים ירדו עיני על
פטירת אמי האישה
הצנו[עה] והחסודה יונת
האדם אשר נשבר_
פע__ עם נשמה באפה

Click here for his processing of the image. He adds:

Sadly I can not read a name here. It is probably underground

Few interesting points to note. On line 4 the first word vצנועה meaning “the humble” is abbreviated (“הצנו” ) . Usually abbreviations at the end of the word are used to avoid writing parts of God's name in the word.

However in this case it looks like it was done to conserve space.

At the end of line 4 (continuing to the next line) there is a poetic phrase. The dove is a symbol for peace and in this poetic phrase it is likely coming to describe her as a person with kind, peace seeking nature

The end of the 5^th line looks like a verb related to “break “ but the following line is unclear at the beginning making the phrase unclear.

The last two words on line 6 mean literally “soul” or “breath” and “in her nose” a phrase that usually describe a living person or “as long as a person is living”

Overgrown with moss

Read by Shahar Stein

Abbreviation “Here is buried”

The glorious young woman

Mrs Shamshu? Reisel

Daughter of Arie Leib Hacohen (the Cohen)

2 Tishrey 5660

Abbreviation “may her soul be bound by the bond of life”

פ"נ

הבתולה המהוללה

מרת שמשו רייזל

בר אריה ליב הכהן

__ב? תשרי ש תרס

תנצבה

Comments:

Shamshu is a name that I am not familiar with . literally it means “his sun” or short for “Samson” but this is a female so not sure about the 2^nd option.

The line for the date is the lower clear line. It has dirt at the right side so the beginning might be hidden. Several abbreviations are used.

The letter SHIN (ש) as short for שנה (year)

The year on the left part of that line seems to be תרס 5660

At the place where we expect to see the month (to the right of the year) the letters look like בחושה

However this does not look like any month name in the Hebrew calendar. I think that this is a damaged בתישרי however against that assumption is the extra YUD letter in the middle of the word. The BET letter at the beginning can be the day count 2 or it might be used as “of”

Two stones too overgrown to read.

The next photo is this stone before cleaning, but it's still illegible

This is the stone above before cleaning

The light & shadow mean this photo isn't legible

This one is too overexposed to read.

Updated by Irene Newhouse 1/2021

The cemetery in Szczuczyn

Roll 1 | Roll 2 | Roll 3 | Roll 4