Jewish Cemetery

This week on Saturday (YES SATURDAY) our class went to visit the K.K. Beth Elohim cemetery where we were attended by Anita Moise Rosenberg and Randi Serrins. The KKBE cemetery is the oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in the south from Spain and Portugal because it was the first place in the world where Jews could own land and vote. 

The Jews came to the south in the late 1600s. The cemetery has "over 800 people buried here and contains over 500 graves" (Rosenberg).  10 revolutionary war soldiers and and 21 confederate soldiers are buried here.

A sign next to the entrance of the cemetery

Interesting facts about the jewish cemeteries: The jews are very precise about where people are buried. Anita told us that all the bodies are "exactly 6 feet underground and buried close together but never on top of one another." When someone in the jewish community dies, it was normal to quickly have them buried. Another interesting fact is that it is very unusual for a synagogue (place for Jewish people to worship) to be close to a cemetery, unlike the graveyards at the Protestant and Catholic churches. 

Theodore Beltzer

This is Theodore Belitzer, he lived near the graveyard and grew up in the KKBE synagogue. About two years ago, a man was taking photos of the cemetery and noticed a ghost in his camera so he called Randi and Anita over to the cemetery. After arriving and seeing the photos, Randi told us "we concluded that it was Theodore Belitzer, he was the only person we found in our studies that did not have their proper burial cite." Interestingly, the ghost did have the shape of him in this picture.

Grave being restored because it collapsed.

Grave with rocks placed on it.

                                             

In the Jewish community it is common to place rocks on top of graves. This began because years and years ago when people would be buried in the desert, animals would come dig up the body and eat it. Placing piles of rocks on top of where the body was buried kept the animals away and allowed the dead body to rest in peace.