Grigorescu, Felicia: Forme de artă în cimitire evreieşti din nord-vestul Romaniei (Satu Mare, 2013)
Glosar de termeni
towns where they are still in use. In the closed cemeteries, in some cases these constructions are still standing but they bear the traces of the vandalization or weather erosion they were subjected to. Such an example is the one from the old cemetery from Oradea on the Războieni street No 92, there is only one cemeterial chapel of small dimensions having its doors and windows deteriorated. Most of the cemeteries from the selected area are fenced in according to the directions, in different ways. In the bigger localities, the fence was made many times with high walls. It’s the case of the two cemeteries of Satu Mare, fenced in by a high wall of 2,5 cm of brick supported by pillars of brick as well, thicker and higher than the rest of the wall, ended in an abacus. In the old orthodox cemetery from Satu Mare, from place to place, the wall from the East metallic apertures were placed, as some small windows (approximately 25/40), developed horizontally, manageable only from the inside; near this wall the line of Rabbis is placed, so that the graves can be seen from the street by the ones having interdiction of entering the cemetery. Due to the walls’ degradation or disappearance, in the 80s of the 20th century, at the initiative of the Jewish Community, a big part of the cemeteries of Satu Mare have been fenced again with walls of concrete plates conserved well until today (2013) by the CEPML (County Enterprise for Property Management and Leasing) Satu Mare. A frequent characteristic of the Jewish cemeteries, observed in the studied area, is their fence with locust tree hedge (Pic. 89). This fact is more frequent in the case of some localities from hilly areas, such as the cemeteries from Călineşti-Oaş (SM), Livada (SM), Copalnic Mănăştur (MM), but also in the case of bigger localities, such as the Jewish cemetery from Tăşnad City (SM). The locust tree fences are a very good guide mark in the identification of these cemeteries, by having in the spotlight the fact that in most of the localities no Jewish population lives, and their position is unknown in most of the localities. Beside some biblical reasons, maybe the protective qualities of this tree, which doesn’t grow a big tree crown , stuffs with copses in the lower part, is full of thorns, fact which makes it hardly penetrable and isn’t pretentious, have lead to the choosing of it in order to protect the cemeteries. Even is the community has disappeared from over half a century, the fences shelter the place once hallowed as a cemetery by the civilization’s invasion. Due to the urban developing some cemeteries have ended up to be hidden between streets, their access being done through the yards of the ones guarding and caring for them. Such examples are the cemeteries from Livada 1 and Livada 2 (SM), Turţ (SM), Oradea Velenţa (BH), or Tinea II (BH). The cemetery from Leş (BH) extended on a surface of over 10 acres, has only one more funeral stone, supposing that there might exist two or three stones overturned. When the cemeteries situated outside the locality have become adjacent to gypsy districts, their situation has become disastrous. It is the case of the old cemetery from Beiuş, which is being held by the collective memory although it is believed to have disappeared. But in a thicket of locust tree, bramble, and a young wood, some of the most beautiful, massive, and richly decorated stones from the area are still preserved, not being altered by the subsequent interventions on the funeral stone and stated in other cemeteries. In the condition from 2010, it was impossible to 177 177 The vegetation has been forbidden for a long time in the Jewish cemeteries, especially the trees having rich crowns that hindered the approaching of the Rabbis of the edge of the cemeteries passing under the crowns of the tree impurifying them. Usually their relatives buried themselves on the edge of the cemeteries so that they can see them from the road. 147
