The oldest known tombstone in the Jewish cemetery in Timișoara has undergone conservation and restoration.
The matzevah, also believed to be the oldest gravestone in Timisoara, dates from 1636 and marks the grave of Azriel Asael, a member of the Sephardic community from Salonika (Thessaloniki).
The sandstone monument had suffered serious erosion over the centuries and was almost illegible.
“The inscribed section had developed a major crack and was in imminent danger of collapsing and disintegrating,” according to Getta Neumann, a Timișoara Jewish historian and the daughter of the city’s last resident rabbi, who died in 2004.
Neumann, who spearheaded and co-funded the project, told JHE that the restoration included “careful cleaning, structural consolidation, reattachment and stabilization of the inscribed section, ensuring the long-term preservation of this unique monument for future generations.”
The work was carried out by the expert stone restorer Sidonia Olea, who has conducted extensive restoration work in the historic Jewish cemetery in Alba Iulia.
Timișoara Rabbi Jakab Singer (1867-1939) had transcribed the inscription and also published a photo of the gravestone.
According to a new book about the cemetery by Neumann and Janos Szekernyes, Azriel Asael was “a Sephardic Jew from Thessaloniki and a prominent figure in the community, as evidenced by the size of his headstone – 156 cm high, 67 cm wide, and 32 cm thick. According to oral tradition handed down through generations, he was a rabbi and a miracle-working physician, an image reinforced by the meanings of his names: Asael (‘made by God’) and Azriel (‘helped by God’), both common among Sephardim. Although this account rests solely on the epitaph and on tradition, it may well hold a kernel of truth.”
The conservation work was made possible through private donations of €2,500. This, Neumann said, demonstrated “how individual support can play a vital role in safeguarding our shared cultural heritage.”
