Tombstone of Shelomoh, son of Josef ben Teqa

Provenance	Girona
Chronology	1198 (4958)
Material	Limestone
Record	MHJ108
Section	Cemetery

This is the oldest tombstone and the only one in the entire collection that tells us the age of the deceased: twenty‑two years. It belongs to the intelligent, charming and chosen Shelomoh, son of Josef ben Teqa. Unfortunately, his biography is unknown. His epitaph begins with the words "I will cry, lament and sing elegies thinking of mother and brothers", which may indicate that these were his closest living relatives and that his father had already died, and that he himself had not yet formed his own family.

Translation:
(Side A)
I will cry, lament and sing elegies thinking of mother and brothers
They were dejected and dismayed on the day he was laid to rest.
The servants, the Sun, and the stars in the heavens felt afflicted and arrayed themselves in darkness.
May his soul be at rest in a better place along with those who sing praises in the House of God.
(Side B)
The seventeenth day of the month of Sivan of the year four thousand and 958 of the Creation of the world: a day of anguish,
darkness and gloom, when the charming and chosen Rabbi Shelomoh was called to the Celestial Community. Blessed be the memory of the twenty-two years old son of the noble Rabbi Josef ben
Teqa. They will cry bitterly for him and their bitterness will be that of losing a first-born child. May peace be
upon the resting place of he who walked in rectitude. May he rest and rise again to receive his reward at the end of time. Amen.

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