Help with Hebrew Headstone

[Bhoy]

Hi,

Can anyone here read Hebrew?

I'm interested in the headstone at this link: findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=bersansky&GSfn=louis&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=24&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=153869116&df=all&.

What I'd like to know is if the Hebrew text says anything more than the text in English, such as a father's name, for example.

Any help much appreciated.

[arthurk]

I'm very rusty at this, but managed to make out most of the letters, and with the help of an online translator came up with the following for the first two lines: "Our dear father and upright man of religion and commandments".

The rest appears to include the name Jacob (possibly with surname Kapil?), but I can't work out what it's about. However, I can't see the name Louis Bersansky there.

From looking at these before, and the answers of more knowledgeable people, sometimes these stones have a fairly conventional epitaph, possibly abbreviated in places.

Arthur

[Bhoy]

Arthur,

Thanks a lot for your efforts.

As regards the 3rd & 4th lines, I see Jacob and Kapil/Kapol as well. 

Trying on-line translators myself, I think these lines say: "Rabbi lion Leib son of Jacob Kapil ...".

"Rabbi" is likely a mark of esteem rather than necessarily meaning a clergyman.  Not sure what the "lion" might mean.

I'm wondering if it means that Louis was originally "Leib son of Jacob Kapil".

I don't know what the rest means.

Any further help from anyone would be much appreciated.

[Bhoy]

And Leib would appear to be a Yiddish name which means lion.

So, "lion Leib" is simply the name in both Hebrew and Yiddish, as well possibly being a play on words.

[Bookbox]

"Leib son of Jacob Kapil".

That is how I read it too. Louis is a common English form of the Hebrew name Leib.

After Jacov Kapil is Ha-Levi (= the Levite). Then comes the date, the last word on line 4 is the month Kislev (= Nov/Dec).

Last line: tau shin daled = 400 + 300 + 4 = 704 (the last 3 digits of the Hebrew year; add 1240 to convert = 1943/44). Finally, the initial letters of the standard quotation from Samuel I, meaning 'May his soul be bound in the bond of eternal life'.

Hopefully someone else will be along to correct/explain/fill the gaps.

[Bhoy]

Thanks a lot for your help.

[JustinL]

Hello,

Together, you have more or less nailed it.

Louis' full name was R[eb] Aryeh-Leib b[en] R[eb] Ya'acov-Kopil ha-Levi

The single letter resh before each given name is short for reb, and simply means Mr.

Leib was the Yiddish everyday name, or kinui, given to men with the Hebrew given name Aryeh (or Yehuda).

Kopil was a common Yiddish everyday name for Ya'acov.

In a formal document, the two names may have been linked with the Hebrew word hamechune, which means 'known as', i.e. Aryeh hamechune Leib ben Ya'acov hamechune Kopil.

After ha-Levi, the inscription reads נפתר ב כסלו = niftar 2 Kislev, i.e. died on 2 Kislev 704 = 29 Nov. 1943.


Justin

[Bhoy]

Superb!

This is just what I was looking for.   I like to have at least three separate sources of information linking one generation to the next, particularly where the given names are common ones.  (Too many links made seem to be driven by hope rather than hard evidence.)  This is the third such source in this case, which nails it for me.
 
Thanks a lot for the help.

[arthurk]

Thank you to all who made up for the shortcomings in my answer - I'm tempted to leave the Hebrew to you next time.