{{Short description|Place of burial for Jews}} {{Other uses|Jewish Cemetery (disambiguation)}} [[File:Jewish graves Israel.JPG|thumb|Jewish graves, Israel]] [[File:Jerusalem Mount of Olives BW 2010-09-20 07-57-31.JPG|thumb|Tombstones in Mount of Olives Jewish Cemetery, Jerusalem]] [[File:Fachada del Cementerio Judío de Coro.JPG|thumb|Façade of the Jewish Cemetery of Coro, Venezuela]] [[Image:Jewish cemetery at Kasteelwal Buren The Netherlands.JPG|thumb|Jewish cemetery at Kasteelwal in Buren, The Netherlands]] [[Image:Juedischer_Friedhof_Wankheim+Tuebingen_14.jpg|thumb|Jewish cemetery Wankheim/Tübingen, Germany]] [[File:Helsingin juutalainen hautausmaa.JPG|thumb|Jewish Cemetery in Helsinki, Finland]] [[File:Tombstone of the Oppenheimer family at the Jewish cemetery in Szprotawa.jpg|thumb|Tombstone at the Jewish cemetery in Szprotawa, Poland]] [[File:Jewish Cemetery beside Narkeldanga Main Road in Kolkata 20.jpg|thumb|Jewish Cemetery in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.]] [[File:Acqui Terme Jewish cemetery entrance.jpg|thumb|Jewish cemetery entrance in Acqui Terme, Italy. Inscription above: "May God comfort and grant rest to those who dwell in the dust"]]
A '''Jewish cemetery''' ({{langx|he|בית עלמין}} ''beit almin'' or {{Script/Hebrew|בית קברות}} ''beit kvarot'') is a cemetery where Jews are buried in keeping with Jewish tradition. Cemeteries are referred to in several different ways in Hebrew, including ''beit kevarot'' (house of sepulchers), ''beit almin'' (eternal home), ''beit [[Olam Haba|olam [haba]]]'' (house of afterlife), ''beit chayyim'' (house of the living) and ''beit shalom'' (house of peace).
The land of the cemetery is considered holy and a special consecration ceremony takes place upon its inauguration. According to Jewish tradition, Jewish burial grounds are sacred sites and must remain undisturbed in perpetuity. Establishing a cemetery is one of the first priorities for a new Jewish community. A Jewish cemetery is generally purchased and supported with communal funds.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://iajgs.org/cemetery/what-makes-a-cemetery-jewish/index.html |title=IAJGS cemetery site |publisher=Iajgs.org |access-date=2012-12-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818094106/http://iajgs.org/cemetery/what-makes-a-cemetery-jewish/index.html |archive-date=2016-08-18 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Placing small stones on graves is a Jewish tradition equivalent to bringing flowers or wreaths to graves. Flowers, spices, and twigs have sometimes been used, but the stone is preferred because in Jewish religion it is perceived specifically as a Jewish custom.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.myjewishlearning.com/life/Life_Events/Death_and_Mourning/Burial_and_Mourning/Graveside_Service/Stones.shtml |title=Rabbi David Wolpe: Putting Stones on Jewish Graves |access-date=2021-08-01 |archive-date=2014-10-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021195943/http://www.myjewishlearning.com/life/Life_Events/Death_and_Mourning/Burial_and_Mourning/Graveside_Service/Stones.shtml |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Showing proper respect for the dead (''kevod ha-met'') is intrinsic to Jewish law. The connection between the soul and the human body after death is an essential aspect of Jewish belief in the eternity of the soul. Thus, disinterring the dead, deriving benefit from a corpse or grave, or acting in any way that may be perceived as "ridiculing the helpless" (''l'oeg l'rash''), such as making derogatory remarks or joking, but also partaking in the pleasures or needs of the living, such as eating, drinking or smoking, are forbidden in the presence of the dead.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lamm|first=M|title=The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning|date=2000|publisher=Jonathan David Company Inc.|location=New York}}</ref>
Showing proper respect for the dead also requires a prompt burial, the waiver of certain rabbinic restrictions on Shabbat and religious holidays to ensure proper care of the dead, the ritual cleaning (''tahara'') and dressing of the body in shrouds (''tachrichim'') before burial, as well laws concerning proper conduct in a cemetery. These obligations are traditionally understood as an expression of chesed shel emet (Hebrew: חֶסֶד שֶׁל אֱמֶת, “true kindness”), a Jewish ethical concept describing acts of kindness performed for the deceased, who cannot reciprocate.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Rashi on Genesis 47:29}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Talmud Bavli, Sukkah 49b}}</ref> Care for the dead and the maintenance of burial grounds are therefore regarded as among the highest forms of communal responsibility in Jewish law and practice.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Encyclopaedia Judaica, s.v. “Chesed Shel Emet”, “Burial”}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Maurice Lamm |title=The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning}}</ref>
To ensure that the requirements for Jewish burial are met and that each member of the community is afforded a proper burial, Jewish communities establish burial societies known as the ''chevra kadisha'', 'Holy Society', to provide these services free of charge. In larger Jewish communities, cemeteries are sometimes subdivided into sections according to the ''chevra kadisha'' that uses and is responsible for that section of the cemetery's care and upkeep.
==History== [[File:Abraham Blooteling after Jacob van Ruisdael, Begraef-plaets der Joden, buyten Amsteldam (Jewish Cemetery outside Amsterdam), 1670, NGA 109791.jpg|alt=Cemetery structures and architecture|thumb|left|Abraham Blooteling, ''Jewish Cemetery outside Amsterdam'']] Early Jewish cemeteries were located outside of the city. In the Diaspora, it is traditional to bury the dead with the feet in the direction of Jerusalem. Some findings showed that the dead would be buried with a handful of soil from the Holy Land.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Battegay, Lubrich |first=Caspar, Naomi |title=Jewish Switzerland: 50 Objects Tell Their Stories |publisher=Christophe Merian |year=2018 |isbn=978-3856168476 |location=Basel |pages=30-33}}</ref> The tombstones usually have inscriptions in Hebrew and the regional language. During the Nazi Germany regime, Jewish cemeteries all over Europe were destroyed and desecrated;<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Eiland |first=Murray |date=2010 |title=Heraldry in the Jewish Cemetery, Frankfurt |url=https://www.academia.edu/8021278/_Heraldry_in_the_Jewish_Cemetery_Frankfurt_The_Armiger_s_News_32_1_1_4_2010 |journal=The Armiger's News |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=1-4 |via=academia.edu}}</ref> for this reason, some cemeteries have therefore also become Holocaust memorials, such as the cemetery in the Warsaw Ghetto.<ref>[http://history1900s.about.com/library/holocaust/aa100499.htm The Jewish Cemetery in Warsaw] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170106001401/http://history1900s.about.com/library/holocaust/aa100499.htm |date=2017-01-06 }} About.com.</ref>
The Old Jewish Cemetery in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, is located on the slopes of Trebević mountain, in the Kovačići-Debelo Brdo area, and is the largest Jewish cemetery in Southeast Europe,<ref name="jew-cem-unesco">{{cite web |author=Permanent Delegation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to UNESCO |title=Jewish Cemetery in Sarajevo |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6334/ |website=whc.unesco.org |publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |language=en}}</ref> and the second-largest sepulchral complex in Europe after the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague.<ref name="old.kons.gov.ba">{{cite web |date=30 August 2004 |title=Jewish cemetery in Sarajevo, the burial ground ensemble |url=http://old.kons.gov.ba/main.php?id_struct=50&lang=4&action=view&id=2502 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707041201/http://old.kons.gov.ba/main.php?id_struct=50&lang=4&action=view&id=2502 |archive-date=7 July 2022 |access-date=26 May 2023 |website=old.kons.gov.ba |publisher=Commission to preserve national monuments |location=Sarajevo}}</ref> It was in use for approximately four hundred years, from the beginning of the 16th or 17th century,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Petersen |first1=Hans-Christian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k6sqlTGHpsAC&q=jewish+cemetery+sarajevo+established&pg=PA72 |title=Antisemitism in Eastern Europe: History and Present in Comparison - Google Books |last2=Salzborn |first2=Samuel |year=2010 |isbn=9783631598283 |access-date=2013-09-06}}</ref> but most likely from 1630<ref name="old.kons.gov.ba" /> until 1966.<ref name="jew-cem-unesco" />
Other large Jewish cemeteries of Europe can be found in the Kozma Street Cemetery of Budapest, the Jewish Cemetery of Łódź, the Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery of Warsaw, the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna, the Weißensee Cemetery of Berlin, the Jewish Cemetery in Khotyn, Ukraine, and the Chatam Sofer Memorial (part of the Old Jewish Cemetery in Bratislava). The Jewish cemetery of Siret is considered one of the oldest cemeteries in Eastern Europe, with its foundation dated around 1500. Founded in 1832,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Venezuela) |first=IAM Venezuela (Institutional Assets and Monuments of |date=2017-02-16 |title=Cementerio Judío de Coro |url=http://iamvenezuela.com/2017/02/__trashed-2/ |access-date=2022-09-28 |website=IAM Venezuela |language=es}}</ref> the Jewish Cemetery of Coro in Venezuela is the oldest Jewish cemetery in continuous use in the Americas.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Editora-eSefarad.com |date=2009-10-27 |title=Venezuela: El primer cementario judío de Sudamérica es reacondicionado |url=https://esefarad.com/venezuela-el-primer-cementario-judio-de-sudamerica-es-reacondicionado/ |access-date=2022-09-28 |website=eSefarad |language=es}}</ref>
==Jewish cemetery projects == The mission of the International Jewish Cemetery Project is to document every Jewish burial site in the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://iajgs.org/cemetery/ |title=International Jewish Cemetery Project |publisher=Iajgs.org |date=2010-08-23 |access-date=2012-12-25}}</ref>
The Lo Tishkach European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative was established in 2006 as a joint project of the Conference of European Rabbis and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. It aims to guarantee the effective and lasting preservation of Jewish cemeteries and mass graves throughout the European continent.<ref>lo-tishkach.org</ref>
{{anchor|ESJF}}[https://www.esjf-cemeteries.org/ The ESJF] European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative was established in 2015 as a German-based nonprofit. It received the initial grant of 1 million euros from German government in 2015<ref>[https://www.esjf-cemeteries.org/fencing-projects-of-esjf/ "About us"], an ESJF webpage</ref> In November 2018 the EJSF received a European Union grant for a mass survey project of Jewish burial sites using drones. In December 2019 further funding was granted for a new 2019-2021 project "Protecting the Jewish cemeteries of Europe: Continuation of the mapping process, stakeholders’ involvement and awareness raising".<ref>[https://www.esjf-surveys.org/about-us/ About surveys project] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220725030437/https://www.esjf-surveys.org/about-us/ |date=2022-07-25 }}, EJSF</ref>
==See also== * Bereavement in Judaism *:Category:Jewish cemeteries by country *List of Jewish cemeteries in the United States
==References== {{reflist}} {{Commons category|Jewish cemeteries}}
==External links== * [http://iajgs.org/cemetery/ IAJGS International Jewish Cemetery Project] * [http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Cemetery/tree/CemList.htm JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20151127121456/http://www.lo-tishkach.org/en/index.php?categoryid=9 Database of European Jewish Burial Grounds] *[https://research.historicengland.org.uk/Report.aspx?i=15799&ru=%2fResults.aspx%3fp%3d1%26n%3d10%26tsk%3djewish%2520burial%26ns%3d1 Jewish Burial Grounds: Understanding Values - Historic England]
{{portal|Judaism}}
{{Authority control}} Category:Jewish cemeteries