A metaheerhuis — also called a bet tahara — is the building on a Jewish cemetery where the deceased is ritually washed before burial. The name comes from the Hebrew tahara, meaning purification. On a general cemetery the comparable building is the mortuary house or chapel of rest.
Function
In Jewish tradition a person is preferably buried within 24 hours of death. Until then the body rests in the metaheerhuis. There the burial society (chevra kadisha) carries out the tahara: the body is washed with water and dressed in linen shrouds. Men attend to men, women attend to women.
Building characteristics
Metaheerhuizen are usually small and plain, and the style follows the date of construction — from simple nineteenth-century brickwork to early twentieth-century designs with echoes of the Amsterdam School.
Typical features:
- One or two rooms: a washing room and sometimes a waiting room
- A water point (originally a pump, later mains water) and a floor drain
- Tiling or stone benches that can be cleaned thoroughly
- High-set windows for light while keeping privacy
- A wide door onto the cemetery so the bier can be carried out
Heritage value
Many Dutch metaheerhuizen fell out of use after the Second World War because the local Jewish community no longer existed. Some decayed or were demolished; others have been restored and are protected as national or municipal monuments. Restoration follows the same principles as any small historic building: retain original fabric wherever possible, use lime mortar on historic masonry, and make the roof watertight first, because leaks cause most of the consequential damage.
Related terms
- Mortuary house
- Monument
- Conversion
- Cultural-historical value
- Restoration
- Lime mortar
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