I loved your writing on grave-measuring! I like the idea of having soul candles for Hannukah or Havdalah, but it seems that being a feldmesterin was a job as opposed to something any woman of the community could do. Does this mean that this tradition will unfortunately continue to lay dormant, or do you think in modern times any Jewish person could perform the ritual successfully?
Fortunately, there are Jewish communities actively bringing this ritual back, so it's definitely something that I think can be carried out by any Jewish person well enough versed in the ritual and its purposes! In recent years, we've seen a lot of Jewish ritualists, leaders, and organizations (the Workers' Circle, for example) hosting feldmestn events to educate on and guide people through the ritual in an attempt to keep this beautiful Jewish tradition alive.
Here is an image taken from a feldmestn ritual in 2022! And I'll include some links below to some articles featuring information about people and organizations bringing this practice back!
Measuring the Workers’ Circle section of Mount Carmel Cemetery, Queens, in 2022. | Photo courtesy of: Yom Kippur Cemetery/Grave Measuring and Soul Candle Making: A Ritual Guide (2024); Annabel Gottfried Cohen [for Ritual Well]
A few pieces featuring or about organizations/individuals practicing these rituals in modern day:
Elul: Recommitting to Imperfection (2022); Rebecca Glazer
The Geometry of Remembering: An essay on genocide, collective memory, and talking to the dead (2025); Annabel Gottfried Cohen (Vashti) *Note: I really enjoyed this piece in particular, as part of it features Cohen's recounting of her first attempt at carrying out a feldmestn ritual, which was not only inspiring to read but also very touching.
Soul Candles: During the month of Elul, keeping alive a women’s folk tradition around the dead (2023); Rokhl Kafrissen (Tablet)
Yom Kippur Cemetery/Grave Measuring and Soul Candle Making: A Ritual Guide (2024); Annabel Gottfried Cohen (Ritual Well)
