In 2011, we matched up two photos in the vast Library of Congress archives of 22,000 vintage pictures from American Colony collection. The pictures showed crowds of Jews walking between Jerusalem's Old City and the ancient Mt. of Olives cemetery, presumably for a funeral.
Mt. of Olives Cemetery 110 years ago. Not a funeral, but a picture of a wedding! (Library of Congress, 1903)
The LoC caption reads: Jewish gathering at Tomb of Zacharieh, Kidron Valley
(The Library of Congress captions now read: May be related to LC-M32-A-346 which has 4343 on negative. (Source: L. Ben-David, Israel's History - A Picture a Day website, August 19, 2011)
Now it's time to match a third photo to the group. Thanks to a new exhibit at the Tower of David Museum in Jerusalem, we can assume that all three pictures show the crowds attending a "Shvartze Hasuna," a "Black Wedding" in the cemetery.
Indeed, upon enlargement, the two other pictures show many women and kids, an apparent anomaly for an ultra-Orthodox funeral 110 years ago.
Jewish funeral procession to Mt. of Olives.
Absalom's Pillar is in the center
Jewish procession from Jerusalem's Old City to
Absalom's Pillar on Mt. of Olives.
See enlargements below
The Tower of David Museum exhibit on medical history in Jerusalem shows the picture at the top of this post. A museum guide told Ha'aretz' Ilene Prusher, “The Ashkenazi belief at the time was that if you marry two orphans you can stop the epidemic [cholera] or prevent the next one.” As a result of such a good community deed, it was believed, the souls of the deceased would intercede with God to stop the epidemic.
Upon enlarging the Library of Congress picture, a black marriage canopy - a chuppa -- is apparent.
The dark chuppa in the Mt. of Olives cemetery held aloft with four poles
The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research reports "Shvartze Chanesas" took place in the eastern European towns of Opatow (Apt) and Chelm. Another account by Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe tells of such weddings in the towns of Pinsk and Ropshitz.
View a painting and recollections of a Black Wedding by Meyer Kirshenblatt here. 
Enlargement showing crowd on the way to Mt. of Olives
Click on the pictures to enlarge.
Jewish women on the path from Mt. of Olives -
Djerba (Gerba) synagogue on Lag B'Omer, 1960, (Harvard/Central Zionist Archives) 
Celebrations in Djerba
One of the oldest Jewish communities in the world is located in Djerba, an island off the coast of Tunisia. Over the centuries, Jews from North Africa and even southern Europe made pilgrimages to the ancient El Ghribasynagogue on Lag B'Omer.
Despite current tensions in Arab countries in North Africa, several thousand Jews are expected to visit Djerba for the Lag B'Omer weekend.
We present pictures of the Lag B'Omer celebrations on the island from 60 years ago that we found in the Harvard Library archives.0Add a comment
- MAY16
Chapter: Jewish Holidays. Jews Celebrate Lag B'Omer This Weekend. How Was It Commemorated 90 Years Ago?
Dancing at the Meron tomb (Central Zionist Archives, Harvard Library, 1925) Updating a previous posting
Jews around the world will celebrate Lag B'Omer on Saturday night, at the end of a month-long mourning period when traditional Jews refrain from weddings or joyous gatherings. The mourning remembers the thousands of students of Rabbi Akiva, a renowned spiritual leader at the time of the Talmud (1st century CE). They died in a great plague that ended on Lag B'Omer. 
Celebration in Meron (circa 1915, Harvard/Central Zionist Archives) 
Celebration in Meron (circa 1915, Harvard/Central Zionist Archives)
Dancing in Meron (circa 1925, Harvard/Central Zionist Archives). Note the Torah scroll in a Sephardic case. The
men wearing fez hats are Sephardi Jews. The men wearing kafiyas are likely Arab participants.
In Israel, Lag B'Omer is marked with bonfires in every neighborhood, hikes along nature trails, and gatherings at the tombs of of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai in the Galilee town of Meron and of Shimon the Just (Hatzaddik) in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem.
Meron and tomb of Shimon Bar Yochai (circa 1930,
Library of Congress)
Bar Yochai, a student of Rabbi Akiva's, was known for his opposition to the Roman rule in the Land of Israel. He and his son were forced to flee to the Galilee where they hid in a cave for 12 years. Lag B'Omer is the day of his death, but it is actually celebrated in recognition of the Torah teachings he gave to his students.
Hundreds of thousands of celebrants are expected to visit Shimon Bar Yochai's tomb in Meron this weekend.
Enlargement: the tomb on the
top of the mountain
Today's feature is dedicated by Shlomo
Solomon Goldberg in loving memory of
his wife Michal Elisheva
ShimonHatzaddik was a High Priestof the second Temple in Jerusalem for 40 years (2nd century BCE).
Jewish women praying at the Shimon Hatzaddik tomb (Central ZionistArchives, Harvard Library, c. 1930)
Jews gathered at Shimon Hatzaddik's tomb in Sheikh Jarrah,
Jerusalem (Central Zionist Archives, Harvard Library, c. 1930)
According to Jewish tradition, Shimon clothed himself in his High Priest's vestments to receive Alexander the Great as he marched toward Jerusalem. Alexander stepped from his chariot and bowed to Shimon, who, he said, had appeared to him in a dream predicting his victories.
Many traditional Jews who cannot travel to Meron in the Galilee celebrate Lag B'Omer at Shimon Hatzaddik's tomb located in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in northern Jerusalem.Jewish homes around the tomb had to be evacuated in the 1948 fighting. In recent years Jewish families have returned to the neighborhood.
Shimon Hatzaddik's tomb today Children's Lag B'Omer procession near Shimon Hatzaddik's tomb, Jerusalem (1918,
Library of Congress)
Monday, August 10, 2015
Chapter: Jewish Life Cycle-- The "Black Wedding" in the Mt. of Olives Cemetery
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