 Beginning in 1603, the deceased Jews of the Surbtal communities were buried on a small island in the river "Rhein", called "Judenäule" ("Jew's island") which had been leased to the Jewish community.As the island was repeatedly flooded and devastated, in 1750 the Surbtal Jews asked the "Tagsatzung" to establish a cemetery in the vicinity of their communities in the Surb valley.Once a year, the communal "chevra kadisha" ("hevra kadishah", Aramaic