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I've recently been fortunate to find a photo of the gravestone of one of my ancestors, R' Nosson (ben Meir) Maas, Shochet of Frankfurt-am-Main (d. 1836). The inscription is quite laudatory:

פ"ט
הזקן תורני ורבני שוחט דמתא דקהלתינו יע"א
כ"ה נתן בן כ"ה מאיר מאאס ז"ל
נפטר יום ה' עי"ט אחר[ו]ן דפסח
ונקבר למחרתו ביום עש"ק שביעי של פסח תקצ"ו לפ"ק
רב בתורה במידות ובמעלות
נתן ה' חנו בעיני הבריות
מאז אהוב נחמד ונכבד להיות
שם טוב ביראה ובדרך ארץ קנה
ובכל כוחו לתורת א-ל ולמצותיו פנה
חלקו בגמר' ומאה פעמים סיים כל סדרי המשנה
...טרם מותו חדלו ממנו (?) כל כבוד

and that's as far as I can understand.

The photo is too large to fit comfortably on the page here, but I've uploaded it here. Can anyone help me with the last line and a half of it?

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this book may or may not be useful: google.com/… – Menachem Apr 30 at 21:40
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4 Answers

up vote 4 down vote

חסד יסוד could refer to the sixth day of the Omer, which would be counted on the seventh night of Pesach. The final word could be ס"ל meaning ספר לו: he counted. Then the last line could mean something like: he counted the 6th day of the Omer over there, in heaven.

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Interesting idea, though I think (from what I know of Frankfurt's history) that Kabbalistic ideas were not too popular there. – Alex Nov 9 '10 at 20:12
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up vote 4 down vote

This is what I sent, although I don't think it is much better. I'm adding it here so that perhaps it will trigger something for one of you to improve upon.

That last word on the penultimate line is certainly strange. I thought it might possibly be two words run together, but that does not look possible. As I read it, it looks like the last three letters are ענת

I agree that the previous words look like כל בכור and not כל כבוד.

So that on the next line, פה פטר בה could mean "Here(in) was the first-born" perhaps a play on the word פטר as slightly different from the passive נפטר Was he a first-born? Alternatively, "From here he was sent away or freed -- "

Followed by the parallel, שמה חסד יסור סורו סל. "There, grace (chesed) will banish his suffering to the trash (waste)." (nice use of samechs for alliteration...Was he suffering from anything?) Possibly this was some alternate form instead of 'ת' נ' צ', ב', ה' I have never yet seen that though.

I'm not sure I have done any better than the other scholars, but I sent it for what it's worth!

Madeleine

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Madeleine, Welcome to mi.yodeya, and thanks very much for joining in the sleuthing effort! I look forward to seeing you aroud. – Isaac Moses♦ Feb 4 '11 at 3:06
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up vote 3 down vote

For the 4th, 3rd and 2nd words from the end, perhaps חסר יסוד סודו, based on a phrase similar to that found in רמב"ן's commentary on B'reshis 2:7 - "יסודה וסודה" as a description of life, would mean "lost his life".

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Interesting idea! Though I think that, in context, Ramban simply means these words in their usual meaning - "מעלת הנפש יסודה וסודה," "the greatness of the soul, its elementary nature and its esoteric aspect." Still, I guess it's possible that the writers of the epitaph borrowed it in another sense - although to me it looks like the words are חסד יסור סורו. – Alex Nov 12 '10 at 17:06
I agree in principle with your point and the appearance of those last few ר and דs. Just adding a possible allusion to the pot. – WAF♦ Nov 12 '10 at 20:05
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up vote 1 down vote

Kol Kovod V'Hespod. Shenas or Kol Bechor V'Hespod. Shenas

As he was Niftar right before they Lein Kol Bechor and as it was Yom Tov no Hespod was delivered. Or he lost out the Kovod of having a Hespod.

working still on last line

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maybe that last word is והספדנות? – Dave Nov 8 '10 at 0:53
Also - it seems that טרם מותו is a continuation of the previous line. It wouldn't make too much sense otherwise. – Dave Nov 8 '10 at 0:56
The last line might begin: פה בטח בה' -- שמה חסד That would contrast פה with שמה, but I can't figure out the end of the phrase. – Dave Nov 8 '10 at 1:09
The last word looks distinctly like סל, but I can't think of a context that would make sense in. Re "kol b'chor", I don't think so, as (a) it looks like it could well be "kol kavod", (b) the pasuk is "kol *ha*b'chor", and (c) "kol hab'chor" is read on the 8th not the 7th of Pesach. – msh210♦ Nov 8 '10 at 17:49
@Dave: could be you're right about טרם מותו - the reason it's placed there is because it's the end of the acronym רב נתן מאז שוחט. But if the line is saying that he asked not to be honored or eulogized at his funeral ("חדלו ממני כל כבוד והספד"?), then טרם מותו fits quite well there. – Alex Nov 8 '10 at 18:35
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