Memorabilia of Birth and Death as Evidence of Jewish Folk Customs

Abstract

Engraved silver plates bearing the names of deceased parents and the Hebrew dates of their deaths, termed yortsayt plaques, and coins altered to display the Hebrew letter heh are two coherent groups of Jewish artifacts previously unrecognized as distinct categories. The yortsayt memorabilia are from Russian Poland and date from the late nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries. The heh-inscribed coins were a form of childbirth amulet originating in western Europe from the seventeenth century onward. These previously inadequately documented artifacts are described and illustrated here, and a discussion of their distribution and presumptive usage is offered.