Jewish Memorial Wallpaper: Synagogue Yahrzeit Plaques as Material Memory and Communal Concern

Judaism has a robust, and well studied, set of rituals for the work of mourning and remembering dead loved ones. Less attention has been paid to the material aspect of these rituals and the objects associated with Jewish memory of the deceased. This paper examines one modern phenomenon of Jewish material memory, particularly in the American context: the yahrzeit (death anniversary) plaques that decorate many an American synagogue. In this paper I ask about the moral function of these objects in relation to their aesthetic effect. How are they part of memorial obligations Americans Jews have for deceased loved ones and how do they render individual memory of the beloved dead into a communal concern?

 Yahrzeit plaques are ubiquitous, hanging in American synagogues of all denominations. They are made of bronze: the plaques are small rectangles engraved with the name of the deceased and the date of their death, hung on a larger board that may have dozens of similar looking plaques on it. Next to each individual plaque there usually is affixed a small light bulb that can be turned on to mark the death date. 

Particularly notable in this collection of names, date, and lights is that each individual plaque lacks its own distinctiveness. All the plaques look the same. The plaques are not fancier if they commemorate a famous or wealthy person; they do not contain quotations or images that point to the particularity of an individual. They are all visually alike; the only differences being the changing names and dates of death. This means they create a specific and egalitarian visual experience of memory, one more akin to something like the Vietnam Memorial with its repetitive list of names of the dead than a graveyard with tombstones of various sizes and personalized designs.

Building on the work of theorists of the ethics memory, particularly Avishai Margalit and Jeffrey Blustein, I investigate how these small metal objects help American Jews fulfill obligations to the memory of dead loved ones. Both authors recommend using memory objects, like photographs and jewelry to help fulfill these obligations. However, the yahrzeit plaques with their undifferentiated list of names seem like odd objects for helping American Jews to fulfill these obligations. Notably, while these philosophers argue that we have robust obligations to remember those we knew and loved when they were living, they do not include a larger communal obligation to memory within their philosophical systems. (I consider communal memory of the deceased different from civic memory and enjoinders to “never forget” martyrs and injustices.) 

I ultimately argue that the yahrzeit plaques, rather than inspiring particular memories, are a key part of rendering the American synagogue a “memory space,” and thus rendering individual memory a larger community concern. Edward Casey, a phenomenologist of memory, points out that memorial objects, like the yahrzeit plaques, create a kind of “public presence” for memory, rendering memory “accessible to many potential viewers,” through its visual quality, (Casey, 227). Visual objects allow memory to extend meaningfully into space, as memory already does into time. But of course communal memory, the type fostered by Jewish memory rituals for individual dead loved ones, is embodied in places. Memory, through objects we associate with the past and with those who have passed on, is embedded in certain locations. Some of these are obvious repositories of memory: libraries, museums, historical monuments, archives, cemeteries. The creation of these kinds of memory places can make memory part of the everyday social world, allowing the sustaining of memory within the built environment. The yahrzeit plaques function to bring individual memory of loved ones into the everyday built environment of American Jews. By placing yahrzeit plaques in a public Jewish space, they become part of a larger communal responsibility of memory and play an aesthetic role in the creation of synagogue communities as sites for the sustaining of memory.

The Yahrzeit plaques intentionally transform synagogues into “memory places” by making them communal repositories of memory for dead loved ones, creating a visual and tactile aesthetic of memory that becomes a crucial part of synagogue experience for American Jews. The aesthetic effect of the undifferentiated list of names, lights, and boards hanging on the synagogue walls makes memory less about individual obligations, and rather a more egalitarian and shared responsibility. Rather than memory of dead loved ones being ephemeral cognitions, or even rituals of short duration, the plaques give memory a permanent place to reside, and one that is visited regularly. Synagogues, which function as sites for public liturgy, social gathering, and education, are also spaces for embedding personal memory of loved ones within the public sphere of the Jewish community. By studying the yahrzeit plaques as culturally significant objects, and respecting them as visual inheritances that communicate and perform certain moral norms, we learn about the world of contemporary Jewish memorial obligations. Through studying visual memorial traditions we can see how obligations to remember travel between individuals and groups, how it is embedded in the physical stuff of our world, and how these objects are central to constructing and fulfilling memorial obligations.