Rabbi of Stolac
They painted their initials on all the vandalized structures. In addition, the problem of refugee return, after the Dayton Agreement that ended the Bosnian War, has been extremely severe in Stolac, with 70 separate incidents of attacks and other violent actions against Muslims and Serbs seeking to return to their homes, in the year 1998. In December 1998, International Police station at Stolac was vandalized, and the Croat police officers serving in the town are all currently under suspension for their failure to adequately investigate attacks on returnees.
The gravity of the cultural vandalism in Stolac and the continuing insecurity in the town has provoked considerable concern on the part of Jewish scholars knowledgeable about the life of Rabbi Danon and the significance of his tomb.
For this reason, I and my colleague Laura Peterson, who is the regular correspondent for the San Francisco Chronicle in Bosnia, determined to attempt a visit to the grave. With the assistance of Grace Kang, a civil affairs expert with the UN Mission in Mostar, and Alfred Reich, an officer of the International Police in Stolac, both of them American citizens, we were able to complete an inspection of the grave and to even pronounce the Jewish memorial prayer or kaddish at the site, as well as to take photographs. I was not the first person of Jewish origin to visit the grave since the outbreak of the war in 1992.
That very great honor belongs to a Sarajevo Jew who now lives in Israel, Milan Hamovic, 62. Mr. Hamovic is married to a descendant of Rabbi Danon, and he visited the grave and pronounced kaddish on 25 February 1999. However, Jakov Finci, President of the Jewish Community of BH, stated that I was the first to go to the site as a special representative of the Community. We completed our visit on the Sabbath, 13 March 1999. I wish to express my most sincere thanks to Ms. Kang and Officer Reich for their assistance in this task.
The tomb of Rabbi Danon consists of a monumental stone in the old Bosnian Jewish style known as “seated lions,” the most famous e amples of which are found in the Sephardic Cemetery of Sarajevo (the protection of which was a major issue in the recent war and its aftermath). The form is unique and clearly shows the influence of the Bosnian stecci. The tomb is inscribed in Hebrew as follows:
THIS STONE IS HERE PLACED SO THAT IT BE A SIGN AND MONUMENT FOR
THE BURIAL OF THE SAINTLY PERSON WHOSE WORKS WERE WONDROUS AND
OF WHOM IT WAS SAID THAT HE WAS PIOUS AND SAINTLY HE WAS OUR
MASTER TEACHER AND GREAT HAHAM RAV MOSHE DANON HIS GOOD WORKS
AID US. AMEN. HE LEFT THIS WORLD ON THE 20TH DAY OF SIVAN 5590
As previously noted, after his death in 1830 the tomb of Rabbi Danon became a place for regular pilgrimages by Bosnian and other Balkan Sephardic Jews.
The similarity of this practice with pilgrimages to the graves of Islamic holy men in such places as Buna, also in Hercegovina, is worthy of note. Unfortunately, the practice virtually disappeared with the genocide of Bosnian Sephardim during the Holocaust.
As I was able to confirm, the tomb of Rabbi Danon is secure. The cemetery is located at Krajsini, a few kilometers west of the town itself. The grounds are rather well kept, all things considered. There is a substantial paved area surrounding the Danon tomb in the form of a menorah, and a menorah also decorates the gate of the iron fencing. There are two other tombs in the cemetery, for a total of only three Jewish dead in the cemetery.
The third tomb in location is inscribed in German, and in Latin letters, ARNOLD SILBERSTEIN Gestorben im Mai 1889. The second grave stone is without an inscription.
A remaining issue involves the existence or absence of a chevra or mourners’ shelter at the cemetery. In a recent interview, Minister Rizvanbegovic informed me that the chevra had been set afire by Croat militia. I found no trace of such a structure. It is interesting to note, therefore, that a Sephardic song about the Stolac pilgrimages, included in the Elazar Romancero, describes the erection of such a structure. Its apparent demolition should be thoroughly investigated. Minister Rizvanbegovic, whose family is rightfully considered outstanding among the Muslims of eastern Hercegovina, also recounted the pride his forbears felt at accommodating Jewish pilgrims to Stolac during the months of May and June, in the years before the existence of hotels.
He described his own careful and loving attention to the grave of Rav Danon, so long as he lived in the town. He had, he said, asked friends to continue tending the monument after he was forced to leave. Minister Rizvanbegovic’s interview concluded with a reminiscence that eloquently expressed the psychology of Bosniaks and the attitude of Bosnian Muslims to their Jewish neighbors. At one moment during the war, after his escape to Sarajevo from the concentration camp at Dretelj, he and his wife were left with no more than 50 deutschemarks. He went out one morning to buy a container of oil, which cost DM 35. However, he was accosted by a woman who offered him a copy of the Sarajevo Haggadah for DM 30.
The expenditure would make it almost impossible to buy oil, he realized; how would he e plain such a purchase to his wife. And yet, after some bargaining, he handed over his precious deutschemarks for the copy of the glorious Jewish manuscript. It was the first book in his new library. “This is destiny,” he said quietly. It is profoundly desirable that the memory of Rabbi Danon move all residents of Stolac and of Bosnia-Hercegovina in general, to permit the complete protection and restoration of all such moments. In addition, it is to be hoped that, in the spirit of human solidarity shown by the Sarajevo Muslims who assisted their Jewish neighbors, the return and safe residency of all former refugees be assured.
The work of the United Nations civil affairs and International Police personnel are of obvious importance for the success of this project. This visit was carried out two weeks after I heard and read the Megillat Esther in a study room off the prayer hall of the Ashkenazi Synagogue and Jewish Community Center in Sarajevo, en los días de Purim, the year 5759.