Tree Shaped Tombstones - some Jewish examples from St. Paul. And from Vulcan.

 Tree Shaped Tombstones are not evenly distributed among different faiths.  From my extensive - if unscientific - study, I'd say they are more common in Catholic cemeteries and leas common in Protestant ones.  Jewish cemeteries are scarce in the Midwest, so I don't have a big sample, but today we'll visit three of them in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Due to a mix up in directions I started out at Mount Zion cemetery, it is the burial ground for the oldest Jewish community in the state.  The Temple goes back to Territorial days, but the cemetery has only been in this location since 1888, but had only a single "tree" and not a very interesting one at that.  But a few blocks away at the adjacent Sons of Jacob and Sons of Moses cemeteries it was a different story.  Despite having examples that were mostly from the latter days of Tree Shaped Tombstones, there was a lot to see.

Some features of the tombstones I saw here were unusual.  Many have details beyond the name of the deceased.  Beloved Daughter, even in abbreviated form, is poignant.  This low "book style" with Hebrew on the left side was pretty common.

Here's another one.  Note the interesting hands on the otherwise drab tombstone behind and to the right.  That will become important shortly.

The odd little niche down below also caught my eye.  What used to be there?

The cemeteries are in part on a hillside.  Scenic, but not ideal for tall, heavy tombstones!

This last picture was obviously taken on another day.  Even in the Midwest weather does not change that fast.

Notice the hands?  Those are Cohen Hands.  They indicate that the person, it has to be male btw, buried here is a descendent of Aaron, brother of Moses.  This illustrates the hand gestures made by Jewish priests (Cohens, or Kohanim).  While this indicates a priestly lineage it does not mean the person buried here was a priest.  Or even had the surname Cohen or its variants.

In a bit of trivia that I just learned writing this, the gesture - separation between ring and middle finger - inspired Mr. Spok's classic Vulcan salute.  Leonard Nimoy was of course Jewish, and made up this bit of Vulcan culture based on what he'd seen in Temple as a young child.