Jewish Graveyard Rabbit

Take your smart phone to the cemetery!

2011-04-28T02:01:00.009-04:00

I was on Long Island in New York the other day, preparing to give a lecture, when I realized that my aunt Rika Singer was buried only a few miles from where I was to speak.I decided to go a little early and pay my respects.Thanks to GPS, I arrived at the cemetery with no problems. Soon I found the...

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Cemetery Project Q&A: Markers at babies' gravesites

2010-04-18T17:34:00.017-04:00

The Jewish Graveyard Rabbit welcomes contributor Steve Lasky, creator of the online cybermuseum, Museum of Family History. Recently, someone wrote me with a question about baby markers, and how to keep the gravestone from completely sinking into the ground over time.The question was: "I recently...

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Lithuania: Kalvarija Jewish Cemetery

2009-11-09T01:05:00.010-05:00

The Jewish cemetery in Kalvarija - southern Lithuania - has just been recorded by Ralph Salinger of Kfar Ruppin in Israel.Born in the UK and raised in New Zealand, Ralph lives on Kibbutz Kfar Ruppin. He has researched his family history and discovered that the SALINGER family lived in Vilkaviskis...

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Turkey: Sephardic cemeteries running out of space

2009-07-12T00:30:00.005-04:00

There is an ongoing dispute between the Sephardic and Ashkenazi communities in Turkey because the Sephardic cemeteries are running out of space. Ashkenazim - in Turkey since the 1400s - make up only 5% of the Jewish community, but the two communities are extensively intermarried. The Sephardic...

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Poland: Prisoners to renovate Jewish cemeteries

2009-07-07T00:34:00.007-04:00

AFP reported that prisoners are to do conservation work in disused Jewish cemeteries, Poland’s prison service said Thursday.Prison spokesperson Ireneusz Mucha said an agreement had been signed with the national Polish-Jewish heritage foundation enabling the prisoners to volunteer.Some 1,000 Polish...

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Michigan: Jewish cemetery nominated for NRHP

2009-07-06T21:00:00.001-04:00

Temple Beth Israel Cemetery (Jackson, Michigan) has been nominated for inclusion in the National Register of Historic PlacesWhen Denni and Carl Glick of Jackson walk through Temple Beth Israel Cemetery, it's like taking a step back in time. The two wander through the 1-acre burial plot on N. West...

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Macedonia: Shtip Jewish cemetery project

2009-05-31T09:30:00.000-04:00

Did you know there was a Jewish cemetery in Shtip, eastern Macedonia?According to BalkanTravellers.com, in 1512, 38 Jewish families were the first to be recorded in Shtip. In 1943, all 560 Jews from the city's Jewish quarter were deported to the Treblinka death camp.The cemetery's reconstruction...

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Michigan: Jewish Cemetery Index

2009-05-18T01:00:00.000-04:00

Are you looking for family members who may have been buried in a Jewish cemetery in Michigan? This resource may help your quest.The Irwin I. Cohn Michigan Jewish Cemetery Index provides burial information for more than 64,000 Jews who died between the mid-1800's and 1999.While many cemeteries were...

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Kohanim: Marking cemetery boundaries

2009-05-17T00:00:00.001-04:00

Kohanim - members of the Jewish priestly clan, descendants of Aaron - may not enter cemeteries, as part of the restrictions concerning coming into contact with death or impurity.On some streets near cemeteries in Queens, New York, certain sections are marked so that Kohanim will not unknowingly...

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Venezuela: Coro's Jewish cemetery

2009-05-05T12:00:00.004-04:00

Venezuela is located at the northernmost end of South America, has a population of some 30 million and covers 912,050 sq.km. One of the oldest cities is Coro, capital of the state of Falcon. It's a northern port city founded by Juan de Ampies in 1527.In 1827, a group of Jews emigrated from the...

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Jewish cemeteries database: JOWBR

2009-05-05T12:00:00.003-04:00

The first 2009 update to the JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) database includes more than 55,000 new records and some 25,000 new photos from 17 countries. The database now has more than 1.125 million records from more than 2,100 cemteries and cemetery sections in 45...

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Ukraine: Uzhgorod mass grave located

2009-04-01T05:08:00.004-04:00

According to the JTA, A Nazi-era mass grave for 200 Jews has been located in Uzhhorod (Uzhgorod) , a western Ukraine city that was part of Hungary prior to WWII, and then known as Ungvar. The city is on the Slovakia/Ukraine border.The city's chief rabbi, Mendel Teichman, recently discovered an open...

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A resting place?

2009-03-29T14:00:00.004-04:00

If you are searching for your Jewish ancestors in cemeteries, be aware of Jewish tradition and law pertaining to burial issues. This may complicate location of graves in some cemeteries.Jewish cemeteries, depending on denomination and tradition, may have separate sections for men and women, thereby...

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New Jersey: The Alliance Cemetery

2009-03-22T08:13:00.012-04:00

The Alliance Cemetery in New Jersey may be getting some help. The Garden State Preservation Trust ratified and sent to the state legislature a recommendation to fund a project to help the Jewish Federation of Cumberland County help preserve the cemetery and synagogue near Vineland.The Alliance...

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China: Jewish cemeteries in Harbin and Hong Kong

2009-03-14T15:00:00.005-04:00

There were two recent mentions of Jewish cemeteries in Hong Kong and Harbin.Ed Cohen writes in his blog about Hong Kong's Jewish cemetery.I wish I had seen this while I was in Hong Kong. There are lots of interesting little pockets of Jewish history in Hong Kong that can easily slip past detection....

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Mass Graves: Babi Yar and former Soviet territory sites

2009-03-13T15:10:00.004-04:00

Numerous mass graves are located throughout Ukraine and in the eastern territories of the former Soviet Union.Created by Nazi German and local collaborators, the principal objective of the Einsatzgruppen (a mobile killing task force) was the annihilation of Jews, Gypsies and Soviet political...

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Alsace: Hegenheim cemetery photographs

2009-03-13T15:00:00.000-04:00

Photographer Vincent de Groote only uses black-and-white film, and his evocative photos of the abandoned cemetery at Hegenheim in Alsace demonstrates the site's desolation.To see his photographs, click here

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Guess Who's Buried in a Jewish Cemetery? Part 3

2009-03-06T09:40:00.019-05:00

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania runs a “Question of the Week” quiz on its website, created by technical services archivist Cary Majewicz.One recent question was “What Philadelphia woman was rumored to be the inspiration for the Jewish heroine in Sir Walter Scott’s novel Ivanhoe?”I knew the...

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Malta: Controversy over Jewish catacomb

2009-02-22T11:39:00.004-05:00

The Times of Malta covered a brewing controversy over Jewish remains found in Rabat catacombs. The Jewish catacombs are part of the St Paul's catacombs in Rabat, discovered at the end of the 19th century and dating to the late Roman period some 1,500 years ago. The Maltese Jewish community called...

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UK: Historic Jewish cemetery seeks lottery funding

2009-02-22T09:00:00.003-05:00

Restoring Jewish cemeteries through lottery funding is a possibility in the UK.According to the Liverpool Echo, the city's historic Deane Road Jewish cemetery has applied for lottery funding to aid its restoration. Deane Road Jewish cemetery in Kensington is the final resting place of some of...

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Poland: New catalog of Jewish cemeteries

2009-02-22T09:00:00.001-05:00

The Lo Tishkach Foundation has published a new Catalog of Jewish Cemeteries of Masovian Region in Poland.Established in 2006, the Lo Tishkach Database now contains details on more than 9,000 Jewish burial grounds in 29 countries. The Lo Tishkach Foundation estimates that there are some 20,000 such...

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Jewish cemeteries: Why do visitors leave stones?

2009-02-06T00:31:00.010-05:00

Why is this grave covered with stones?I recently returned from Israel with my confirmation class where we occasionally visited the graves of famous Zionists. The grave pictured is that of Israel's first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. That of his wife, Paula, is adjacent. Seeing this as a teaching...

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Turkey: Istanbul's Nakkastepe Jewish Cemetery

2009-02-05T03:32:00.015-05:00

Although Carnegie Museum of Natural History research associate Aydin Örstan specializes in mollusks and snails, he did spend an afternoon at one of Istanbul's old Jewish cemeteries back in October and recently blogged about it, adding some of his beautiful photographs.He and a friend climbed over a...

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Germany: Bonn's Jewish Cemeteries

2009-02-05T03:04:00.019-05:00

Photo Credits: Rudy CouvreurRudy Couvreur is a documentary photographer and blogger.He has beautiful photographs and interesting text on the Bonn Jewish Cemetery - Schwarzrheindorf - on this blog post.The photo above is that of a Kohen - although I cannot see enough detail to provide the name of...

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Venezuela: Jewish Cemeteries of Caracas

2009-02-02T16:44:00.007-05:00

This is one of a series of posts about Venezuela's Jewish cemeteries.Venezuela is located at the northern end of South America, covers some 912,050 sq.km. and has about 30 million inhabitants. The capital, Caracas, is located in the central-north and is the country's biggest and busiest city. It is...

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