The Old Jewish Cemetery in Worms, Germany



We went to see the oldest and largest Jewish cemetery in all of Europe. It was incredible. The oldest headstone dates to the year 1076. Jews were buried there from 1076 to 1911. We walked through and saw a variety of headstones and different areas dedicated to different people. You have to remember, Jews were thriving in this part of Germany when this cemetery was set up. Worms was a "Jewish Center" for Europe.



Typically, even when visiting Jewish graves of someone that the visitor never knew, he or she would leave a small stone at the graveside. This shows that someone had visited, and represents permanence. This contrasts with the common custom of leaving flowers, which do not live long. Another reason for leaving stones is tending the grave. In Biblical times, graves were marked with mounds of stones, so by placing (or replacing) them, one perpetuated the existence of the site.

Time Waits For No Man

Here I sit in disbelief that it's the 7th of October! Where is the time going? It's a little bit scary, especially being aware that we are here for a very limited time.

We had plannned a trip to Trier, Germany this weekend but we cancelled because of the tremendous amount of work we have to do here in the house (still). Although Trier is less than 2 hours away, we are surrounded by boxes and "stuff" that need to be put away and we can't avoid that. Saturday is the day you have to go shopping (food) because everything here is shut down on Sunday. The point is, we have to get settled before we start running off to France and Italy (all of the countries) - but WE WILL (eventually).

The "reality" of Europe is starting to hit us too. It is very expensive here and there are a lot of cultural "issues/barriers" here too. Lately,

I've become preoccupied with the German people (and attitude) pre-Holocaust. I've been reading about the anti-Semetic attitude in the 19th and 20th Century of the people here and some history of the village we live in. There are 31 death camps within an 8 hour drive of our village, I'll try to visit all of them in the next three years.

I'm interested in what makes the German people the way they are today. If you've lived in Germany you know what I'm talking about.

More to come...