Jewish Cemeteries: Difference between revisions

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Jewish religious customs require that Jewish burial sites be held in reverence. The religious duty (mitzvah) of burial is the responsibility of a decedent’s children or spouse. If there are no children or spouse, it is the responsibility of the closest relative. According to Jewish law, burial should take place promptly, preferably on the day of death, but within three days at the most.  

Jewish congregations with a large membership usually maintain their own cemeteries and burial registers. Smaller congregations reserve a section within other cemeteries.  

There are two major types of cemetery records:  

The mission of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies’ (IAJGS) International Jewish Cemetery Project is to catalogue every Jewish burial site throughout the world.&nbsp; Jewish cemetery or burial sites are listed by town or city, country, and geographic region, based on current locality designation.&nbsp; Information under each listing includes history, size, exact location, etc.&nbsp; Some listings include links to other websites with additional information such as burial lists or contact information. The project is ongoing. The IAJGS International Jewish Cemetery Project can be found at:<br>[http://www.iajgs.org/cemetery www.iajgs.org/cemetery]  

Funeral directors or undertakers in the area where your ancestors lived may have records similar to death and cemetery records. Most of the addresses for those in the United States are found in:  

The Family History Library has some funeral home and undertaker records, which are listed in the Sub-ject Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under "Business and Commerce" or "Cemeteries."  

The JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) is a database of names and other identifying information from cemeteries and burial records worldwide, from the earliest records to the present. As of October 2006, this database lists a total of 1,447 Cemeteries and a total of 629,986 burials; the project is ongoing. The JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry can be found at:  

*[http://www.cyndislist.com/ www.cyndislist.com]

Other sources to check for cemetery records include:  

Records of Jewish burial societies (khevrah kadisha). Burial societies in Jewish communities were responsible for burying the dead. Records they may have kept would be similar in content to those kept by cemetery caretakers. Names of society members and the amount of dues they paid may also be recorded.  

Lists of soldiers’ graves are described in [[United States Military Records]].  

The Family History Library has copies and indexes of many cemetery and tombstone records but has limited records of Jewish cemeteries. Examples of published Jewish cemetery records include:  

For information about inscriptions published in periodicals, see [[Jewish Periodicals]] and [[Jewish_Cemeteries]]. Also search this Wiki for "Periodicals" and for "Cemeteries" for the country or state where your ancestor lived.  

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