Raphael Ventura, 2 February 2003
Few years ago, I was in Istanbul, and happened to visit the old Jewish cemetery at Shishli. Walking among the tombs, I came across a grave whose old flat tombstone had partly slid aside and whose frame was broken. It was quite old, and had no standing stone. The inscription was rather long, in Hebrew, with just a name and a few words in French underneath. The French inscription was much shallower than the main Hebrew one, and not of the same quality of workmanship.
What brought that particular tomb to my attention was the name:
ICI REPOSE
LEA BEHMOIRAS
D'ANDRINOPLE
1824 - 1913
The Hebrew inscription was well carved, and consisted of 11 lines.
I decided to take some pictures of the stone. Back home, I tried to read the inscription, which was not an easy undertaking in view of the state of preservation of the stone. Finally I succeeded, and what I read roused more interest in that unknown member of our family.
Gold, electrum and pearls cannot equal her.
To the woman, daughter of a generous man, more precious than fineries.
While she was alive, she was always active.
The destitute and the poor depended on her [lit: leant (upon') her arms].
She it is, the modest and elderly woman.
Lo, her soul will rest, to feed in the gardens.
Mistress of Master Simeon Behmoiras's House.
She passed away at the age of 88 years
On the tenth day of the month of the Second Adar
In the year 5673 of the Race of the Sons of the Poor
M(ay her) S(pirit be) B(undled) I(n the bundle of) T(he living)
The first feature that catches the eye is the fact that the initial letters of the first two lines are the same, those of the third and fourth lines are the same, and so on to the tenth.
The acronym that results is: L E A NB, meaning 'Lea, whose soul is in Eden''.
I found out that the text itself contains short citations from no less than 5 biblical sources, including Psalms, Song of Songs and Samuel.
Her name is not mentioned at all in the Hebrew part of the tombstone inscription, which is very odd in my opinion. She is merely the Mistress of the House of 'Adon Shimeon Behmoiras', i.e., his wife.
One should consider the fact that Shimeon Behmoiras is not given any rabbinical title, but the text bears evidence of deep knowledge of the Bible. It also shows that she was born to a distinguished family 'daughter of a generous man' should be interpreted as daughter of a distinguished man.
The words that follow the year of her death are 'Le-geza Benei Evionim'. I could not find any parallel to explain this expression.
Our Shimeon Behmoiras was born around 1820. This is the earliest instance of our family name written in Hebrew as Behmoiras and not Bekhmoharar. Of course, he could have been born Bekhmoharar and changed his name into Behmoiras at some later time.
Any comment or information regarding this intriguing tomb will be very welcome.
Any activity, particularly on the part of our Istanbul members of the family, to repair the damage of the tomb will be more than welcome.
