BEIT CHAIM
BLEINHEIM
Rabbi Isaac
Emmanuel writes that, following the pattern of the Moors, the Jews in Spain
erected imposing cemeteries. It seems that these Spanish Portuguese Sephardim
carried this tradition with them into exile. Those they founded include
the famed cemetery of Oudekerk (near Amsterdam) in 1616, and BEIT CHAIM
(The House of Life) BLEINHEIM of Curaçao around the year 1659.
Beit Chaim
Bleinheim is appropriately situated to the West of the JODEN KWARTIER,
in the midst of the plantations and the first synagogue in those fields.
The graves of the first settlers do not carry stones with inscriptions.
Since the stones had to be hewn in Amsterdam and later in Italy, it is
safe to assume that the early pioneers had no means to import them from
there. The oldest inscription on record is that of Jeudith Nunes da Fonseca,
who died on the 5th of Shevat 5428 (1668). It is made of potters’ clay
and the fumes of the adjacent refinery (established in 1916 nearby) have
long since rendered the words illegible.
The date
and history of BEIT CHAIM BLEINHEIM make it the oldest Jewish cemetery
still in use in the Western Hemisphere. Aside from its antiquity, BEIT
CHAIM BLEINHEIM is of immense cultural value for its rich array of elaborately
and artistically sculptured tombstones.
Rochelle
Weinstein, a noted authority on Jewish sepulchral art, disputes the popularly
held belief that attributes the Spanish Sephardic practice of having figurative,
often narrative scenes on their tombstones, to their Catholic background
and assimilatory tendency. She cites that carved and figured memorials
are to be found just as well in Dutch and North German (Ashkenazi) Jewish
cemeteries, and even in the famed cemetery of Prague.
Rabbi Isaac
Emmanuel, in his scholarly work “Precious Stones of the Jews of Curaçao”
divides the subjects on the sculptured stones into four groups:
1) allegorical
representations, 2) bas-reliefs indicating the professions, 3) scenes recalling
the last days of the deceased, and 4) Biblical tales relevant to the names
of the interred. The last group speaks most vividly to our imagination:
a Mordechay in triumphal procession (as in the Book of Esther); a Moses
with the Tablets of the Law; an Elijah throwing his mantle to Elisha, and
a Solomon rendering judgment over an infant about to be hewn in two.
Once
Curaçao’s early Jewish settlers had taken up residence within the
walled city of Willemstad, burials at BEIT CHAIM BLEINHEIM required either
a long and circuitous route by carriage or wagon over country roads, or
transportation by barge across water. The latter seems to have been the
rule. A special black funeral barge would take the coffin and immediate
relatives from Punda over the sometimes choppy waters of the Schottegat,
to a pier at the foot of the hill whereon BEIT CHAIM BLEINHEIM is situated.
In the CASA DE RODEOS (House of Circuits), the Chazzan would lead the seven
circuits (RODEOS) traditionally conducted for an adult male. Thereafter,
the body would be brought to its final resting place under the ground.
Rabbi Emmanuel
calculates the total number of people buried in BEIT CHAIM BLEINHEIM to
be between 5200 and 5500, but states that only about one half are identified
by tombstones. Unfortunately, only about one third of the inscriptions
are still legible today, and it seems that these, too, are doomed to extinction.
As one of the many efforts to preserve this priceless heritage, replicas
were made of twelve of the most artistic stones and put on display in the
courtyard at the entrance to the Jewish Cultural Historical Museum. (CGC).
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