Daily AncestorLevite pitcher
A pitcher on a Jewish gravestone, sometimes with a basin, marks a Levite, whose ancestors washed the priests' hands in the Temple.
Levites descend from the tribe of Levi and assisted the priests in the Temple. One duty was washing the priests' hands, so a Levite's stone, especially in Ashkenazi cemeteries, may show a pitcher, sometimes pouring into a basin.
Because the Levites also made music in the Temple, some Levite stones show a lyre or harp instead. Levite status passes through the male line: a man is a Levite if his father was.
As seen in a recordAshkenazi Jewish cemetery, 1880 to 1960
Pitcher pouring into a basin above the Hebrew: Here lies Dov son of Shmuel HaLevi, Bernard Levinsky, 1871 to 1934
Sources
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Daily Ancestor. "Levite pitcher." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/gravestone-symbols/levite-pitcher. Last checked 2026-10-15.