Grave of first rabbi of Berezhany found in Ternopil region

In the city of Berezhany, on July 11-13, an epigraphic expedition under the Judaism master's program of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA) was carried out under the guidance of professors Vitaliy Chernoivanenko and Taisiya Sidorchuk with the participation of epigraphics experts Kateryna Malakhova and Oleksandra Fishel and a group of NaUKMA students.

The main task of NaUKMA undergraduates was to document the inscriptions engraved on matsevas - tombstones, many of which were destroyed or demolished, Religion in Ukraine reports citing Istpravda.com.ua.

Burial at a Jewish cemetery in Berezhany, according to some sources, was carried out from the beginning of the 17th century till the Second World War.

Local authorities met with the head of the expedition Vitaliy Chernoivanenko and discussed a number of issues concerning assistance in carrying out research work on the territory of the Jewish cemetery.

According to Oleg Zakharkiv, deputy mayor, during the research work, expedition members used a map where burial places (several hundred of them) were mapped -- that were partially preserved.

During the study of the inscriptions on matsevas, they found the grave of Shalom Mordechai Ha-Koen (? -1630), the first rabbi of Berezhany.

One cannot ignore the fact that in the 1990s a vault was built on a Jewish cemetery, where rabbi Meshulam Shrafi Faibusha, a Hasidic tsadik (the Righteous), the founder of the dynasty of Berezhany's Hasidim  (1810 - 1874) was buried.