Advertisement for “karka” (soil) from the Land of Israel for burial purposes, the proceeds to support the poor of Eretz Israel

R. Elijah Guttmacher of Greidetz (1795-1874) a disciple of R. Akiva Eiger, was known as a kabbalist and wonder-worker. This pamphlet includes various mystical meditations, or kavanoth, to be recited by the Chevrah Kadishah (Burial Society) during the “taharah,” the ritual purification of the body for burial. Though custom stipulates that earth from any location in the Holy Land be splaced on the deceased before burial, R. Guttmacher states that he was fortunate to obtain virgin soil from the cemetery atop the Mount of Olives. He reasons that the soil from that location is especially propitious for the resurrection of the dead, as it was the site upon which the ashes of the Red Heifer (Parah Adumah) were hidden. Together, with the “proto”-Zionist, Tzvi Hirsch Kalischer (another student of R. Akiva Eiger), Guttmacher was active on behalf of the welfare of Eretz Israel. See EJ, Vol. VII, cols. 991-2