10/09/2025
Judaism teaches that sacred texts and objects, when no longer usable, must be treated not like garbage, but like the dead—that is, treated with dignity and care and returned to the soil.
Anything with inherent sanctity—such as a Torah scroll, a mezuzah parchment, tefillin, or a prayer book—contains holiness and would be considered sacred. Items adjacent to holiness, like a mezuzah case or a tefillin bag, are traditionally buried, too. The items to be buried are considered sheimot, commonly pronounced “shaymos." The term’s root is indeed the Hebrew word for “names,” since a literal rule is to bury objects containing the name of G-d.
While many synagogues have a genizah (a “hidden” place to store sacred items that have fallen out of use), Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati does not. Thus, we ask that you hold on to your sheimot until our next annual community burial event.
