Titles for Hashkavot (memorial prayers)

as noted in 11 months booklet 1923-2018 … 5683 -5778

Introduction

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Men who exceptionally contributed to community may posthumously be honored with a title, to be used during his Hashkava (memorial prayer). This title is assigned by the rabbinate in close cooperation with Parnassim.
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On this page I listed all unique titles found in the 11 months booklet (“gele boekje”, see Hashkavot) started by Hazzan Duque in 1923 and maintained till this very day. This booklet contains the names of all members died the last 95 years, excluded those who died during the holocaust. In total I found 55 men honored with 27 different titles. From this I extracted 13 basic titles (first table) which are used in various combinations (second table) to honor the deceased according to his contribution. Whilst most combinations are unique, some combinations are used a few times. Some basic titles are used frequently, e.g. דחיל חטאין ומוקיר רבנן and הרופא המובהק.
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In some cases titles we granted for activities outside our community (see the last two). Some men were honored even though they were not buried at the Ouderkerk aan de Amstel cemetery. In some cases, Ashkenazim who were not even member of our Kehilah, were honored because of their exceptional contribution to the Kehilah.

Basic titles

Combinations

Mind composing a title is not an “exact science” because all people are different, both those who honor, as well as those who are honored. On top op that we see differences in different periods. For example, the first Chachamim of the community got very short titles, Chachamim in later centuries got much longer titles, see the list of Chachamim elsewhere on this site.