Burial society carriage

Accompanying the dead on their final journey towards burial is part of the tradition of honoring the deceased, and is already mentioned in Rabbinic literature as one of the essential deeds "for which one is rewarded in one's lifetime and also earns a reward in the world to come." Funeral processions were held with due ceremony, and the deceased was carried in a special vehicle, such as this majestic carriage from Hungary. "Suddenly the gates of the palace opened, and men dressed in black brought out the bier and placed it on a black carriage pulled by four black horses . . ."

(S. Y. Agnon, Oath of Allegiance, 1943)

Credit: Purchase, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, USA, through MENORAH, The Repatriation of Diaspora Synagogues to Israel