Grigorescu, Felicia: Forme de artă în cimitire evreieşti din nord-vestul Romaniei (Satu Mare, 2013)
Glosar de termeni
The work of the members of the society was remunerated, paid. In order not to reach excessive amount of money for the funeral services provided by the brotherhood, one has established maximal fees. The amount of money which remained at the end of the funeral were used for cemetery maintenance and for charities. The majority of the identified sources, set the foundation of a Hevra Kadisha6' around the same time with the opening of the cemetery. In bigger towns, where there were more communities and rites, there were more such societies. We mention, in the studied area, the town Sighetu Marmaţiei, where the division of the Jews in accordance with their religious movement was more emphasized, but there was also a great number of Jews. Hevra Kadisha could be founded where the communities were numerous (they needed 18 people), sometimes before the construction for the synagogue itself. The oldest Hevra Kadisha from the north-west of Romania was identified at Oradea, dated from 173163 64, its statute was signed by 68 parishioners, believers. In Maramureş at DragomireŞti, the brotherhood was active since the end of the XVIII century, before the construction of the synagogue, at the beginning of the XIX century brotherhoods were identified in Maramureş, at Copalnic Mănăştur, founded at the same time with the cemetery, in Satu Mare county, at Negreşti OaŞ founded at the same time with the cemetery, too. In Carei the brotherhood existed since the beginning of the century, and in Satu Mare, in 1842 it had already existed. Around the middle of the century, one identified brotherhoods in Maramureş at Bârsana, Glod and in Satu Mare county at Sanislău. They increased in number in the second half of the XIX century: in Maramureş was Şomcuta Mare in 1852, in Baia Mare in 1962 (1861 after MZsL p. 625), at Glod and Baia Sprie at the end of the century, in Bihor at Salonta in 1852, and in Satu Mare county at Botiz. There were other brotherhoods too but we do not have the exact evidence of the dates: in Sighetu Marmaţiei, Teceu, BudeŞti, Iza, Moisei, Seini in Maramureş, at Valea lui Mihai, Marghita in Bihor and Craidorolţ, Livada, and Odoreu in Satu Mare county65. Unfortunately, the archives and documents of the Jewish community were destroyed in the deportation period. In the loft of the synagogue from Baia Mare it was kept a registry of the funerals which was sent by the president of the community in the '90s of the XX century, to the Museum of Holocaust from New York66. It would be difficult to identify these documents, if they were kept, because of the difficulty of the Hebrew writing, the remaining Jews are few, and those who know Hebrew are even fewer, and it is hard among the Jews to study Hebrew. 63 Ibidem 64 T. Mózes, Evreii din Oradea, Ed. Hasefer, 1997, p. 112 (From naw on: Oradea...) 65 R. L. Braham, Enciklopédia... 66 Oral information from M. Şalic, Baia Mare 105
