Dear JewishGendom,
In a photo of a matzeva I was sent recently on the top line there is
P"N Poh Nikbara (Here is Buried)
then 4 letters: Hay (or Chet) Shin (or Sin), Lamed, Hay, which might be pronounced Hasla or Heshla. (השלח or חשלח)
followed by Leiba bat R' Mordechai (Leiba daughter of Mr. Mordechai)
I'd like to enlist your help in trying to figure out what these four letters — Hay (or Chet) Shin (or Sin), Lamed, Hay — on this matzeva might mean, indicate, or represent.
The Hay (or Chet) Shin (or Sin), Lamed, Hay, isn't the right 4 letter combo to be the year of demise, so one possibility might be that it is an uncommon Yiddish name
While searching my copy of A Dictionary of Ashkenazic Given Names by Alexander Beider, on page 665 I did come across a listing for a "Hesla" which apparently may have been a variant of Hannah or Chana.
However people in this family only know her Hebrew name as Leiba with nothing before it.
Another possibility is that it is a descriptive word.
I've also tried putting this word into Hebrew English dictionaries online with no results.
When I checked my Complete Hebrew English Dictionary by Reuben Alcalay, for Hay-Shin-Lamed-Hay, I only saw hashalah which means dropping, shedding, letting fall; and for Chet-Shin-Lamed Hay there were some entries that meant (1) faint, exhausted, (2) forge, shape, hammer, and (3) hystereis, weakness. So I'm not am finding anything that ties in unless it's somehow being used as a descriptive adjective being applied to Leiba.
A third possibility could be that it is some kind of roshei tevot, but there are no slashes to indicate that.
Can you suggest what this Heshla is or refers to and help me solve this puzzle?
Todah in advance,
Judi Langer-Surnamer Caplan
Judith27@...
Long Beach, NY
