Obj. ID: 35775  Beaker of the Hevra Kadisha of Alsbach, Frankfurt am Main, 1731/32

The following description was prepared by William Gross:

This large beaker belongs to the Alsbach regional holy burial society, the "Chevrah Kadisha". The Alsbach cemetery served more than twenty small communities in the area who did not have their own burial sites.  The members of the holy society who looked after the preparation and burial of the dead came from a number of these towns. Such a confraternity was organized in many ways like the German professional guilds and some of their customs were copied.  One of those was the periodic meeting of the members, at least yearly, with celebration and feast. This large ceremonial beaker was used on such occasions and is inscribed with the names of the members for a number of years in the 18th century. The tombstones of some two-thirds of the persons named on this beaker are still extant in the Alsbach Jewish cemetery to this day.

Inscription:  This Beaker Belongs to the Hevrah Kadisha of the Benevolent Fund in The Holy Community of Alsbach, in the Year 'To Good Life'  (chronogram (5)492 = 1731/2)