Tradition

Evidence of Jewish Tradition
One of the most important lessons we learned from the cemetery restoration was about tradition, its importance to people starting a new life in an unknown part of the world, and its importance to succeeding generations. Tradition can be evidenced as religious, ethical or cultural. The tradition that we find evidenced in the Old Jewish Cemetery is strictly religious, but it still reminds today's Jews, who are generally less observant than those buried here, of their common cultural and ethical underpinnings.

Tradition helps center our lives, it helps us feel secure in the knowledge of who we are and where we came from. It gives us the confidence to teach our children something that we were confident in learning. Hopefully, it imparts to our children some values that will guide them in managing their futures. The evidence of Jewish tradition found in the Old Jewish Cemetery is instructive. Here are some highlights:

The establishment of the burial society as the first and only public institution in the Jewish society tells us something about what was most important in their society.

The existence of the funeral parlor on the cemetery property, and the discussion of its necessity as a place of ritual purification. Ritual purification is still practiced today among many Jewish families.

The adherence to strictly proscribed ritual in the burial process, including the use of a burial shroud and the use of wooden coffins lacking any metal nails or hinges. Some of this ritual is still practiced today.

The Hebrew inscriptions on the headstones. They reminded us of a society that communicated, at least in terms of religious matters, in the ancient language of their forefathers.

The evidence of traditional Jewish icons carved in the headstones. The icons make Biblical references and references to certain traditional practices, such as splitting of the fingers in raised hands in traditional blessings.

The story about the tiny Jewish community's refusal to disinter and sell the property to the Cumberland Valley Railroad in 1903 is known by many in the community. This is a tradition that binds all Jews. No Jewish cemetery of any denomination allows bodies to be disinterred.
 

What is the real value of the tradition evidenced here?
Why visit this hallowed ground?

First, when a Jew visits a traditional burial ground such as the Old Jewish Cemetery in Chambersburg, there is an instant and individual feeling of identification, even if no relatives are buried there, because many of the traditions evidenced there have been carried on to his own generation. Recognition of those traditions usually creates a certain pride in who we are. That pride helps one to live more comfortably in his world.

Second, tradition helps maintain the identity of a society, the identity that has allowed a specific group of people to exist for hundreds of generations in a generally hostile world. But mere existence is not much of a goal. It is the ideals and spirit that the tradition represents that make the current generation, like those before it, an important contributor to the progress of the society in which they currently live.

The feeling that "this is who we are" and its identification with "this is who we were" creates the interest in seeking the value from the past and using it to create a brighter future for our children, while maintaining the ethical principles that have been developed over countless generations.
 

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