Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery

Last updated
Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery
Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery
Details
Established1893 (1893)
Location
CountryUnited States

The Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery is a Jewish graveyard located in University City, Missouri, an inner ring suburb of St. Louis.

Contents

History

The cemetery was founded by Russian immigrants in 1893 in order to provide access to Jewish burial no matter one's financial means. [1] [2] These immigrants founded the Chesed Shel Emeth Society in order to bury their deceased after the immigrants found rituals and traditions of the local Orthodox synagogues unfamiliar. [3] In the 1960s Chesed Shel Emeth congregation purchased a thirty acres piece of land in Chesterfield, again following the westward movement of the Jewish community. Called the White Road Cemetery it has the potentiality for growth over the next 200 years to hold the entire St. Louis Jewish population.[ citation needed ] As of 2019, the cemetery had about 22,500 plots. [1]

Vandalism

Vice President Mike Pence speaks to family members and volunteers during his visit to the Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in 2017. President Trump's First 100 Days- 16 (34252539001).jpg
Vice President Mike Pence speaks to family members and volunteers during his visit to the Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in 2017.

On the morning of February 20, 2017, a vandal toppled, overturned, and dismembered 154 gravestones at the cemetery. The headstones, many marking graves from the 1920s through 1940s, were made of granite, marble, and other materials, and hand-carved in English, Hebrew, or Yiddish. [1] [4]

The vandalism drew national attention and came amidst a series of bomb threats, attacks, and other vandalism against Jewish institutions across the United States. A week after the vandalism at Chesed Shel Emeth, more than 100 headstones were topped at the Mt. Carmel Jewish Cemetery in Philadelphia. [1] [2]

On April 25, 2018, St. Louis County prosecutors announced that they had charged Alzado Harris in connection to the vandalism. Prosecutors stated that the man reported being drunk and angry at friends during the vandalism and that he appeared to have no antisemitic motivation. [5] In March 2019, Harris was sentences to three years of probation by the St. Louis County Circuit Court. According to the Anti-Defamation League, there was no indication that Harris was motivated by hate. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

The history of Jews in St Louis goes back to at least 1807. St. Louis has the largest Jewish population in Missouri and is the largest urban area in the state of Missouri. Today's Jewish community is primarily composed of the descendants of Jews who immigrated from Germany in the first few decades of the 19th century, as well as Jews who came from Eastern Europe slightly later.

Westlawn Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery located in Norridge, a suburb of Chicago in Illinois. The cemetery covers 72 acres (29 ha) and roughly 46,000 people are buried there.

Charles "Charlie" Birger was an American bootlegger during the Prohibition period in southern Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belfast City Cemetery</span> Cemetery in Northern Ireland

Belfast City Cemetery is a large cemetery in west Belfast, Northern Ireland. It lies within the townland of Ballymurphy, between Falls Road and Springfield Road, near Milltown Cemetery. It is maintained by Belfast City Council. Vandalism in the cemetery is widespread.

The Hebrew Free Burial Association (HFBA) was established in 1888 as a free burial society serving the residents of Manhattan's Lower East Side. It was incorporated as a non-profit organization with the name of Chebra Agudas Achim Chesed Shel Emeth on January 25, 1889. As the need grew in adjacent Jewish communities, HFBA also grew to serve the broader metropolitan area of New York City. HFBA is currently the largest free burial society outside of Israel. In 1965, it changed its official name to Chebra Agudas Achim Chesed Shel Emeth Hebrew Free Burial Association, Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Greitens</span> American politician (born 1974)

Eric Robert Greitens is an American former politician who was the 56th governor of Missouri from January 2017 until his resignation in June 2018 amid allegations of sexual assault and campaign finance impropriety.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baron Hirsch Cemetery</span> Cemetery on Staten Island, New York City

Baron Hirsch Cemetery is a large Jewish cemetery in the neighborhood of Graniteville, on Staten Island, in New York City, and named for Baron Maurice de Hirsch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symonds Street Cemetery</span> Cemetery in Auckland, New Zealand

Symonds Street Cemetery is a historic cemetery and park in central Auckland, New Zealand. It is in 5.8 hectares of deciduous forest on the western slope of Grafton Gully, by the corner of Symonds Street and Karangahape Road, and is crossed by the Grafton Bridge. The street is named for William Cornwallis Symonds, a British Army officer prominent in the early colonisation of New Zealand. It has a Historic Place – Category I listing with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. Maintenance and administration of the cemetery is provided by the Auckland Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linda Sarsour</span> American Muslim feminist activist

Linda Sarsour is an American political activist. She was co-chair of the 2017 Women's March, the 2017 Day Without a Woman, and the 2019 Women's March. She is also a former executive director of the Arab American Association of New York. She and her Women's March co-chairs were profiled in Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People" in 2017.

Mount Carmel Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery in the Wissinoming neighborhood of Philadelphia. It was established in the mid-1800s. The earliest recorded burial at Mount Carmel Cemetery was in 1832. The cemetery was mainly a burial site for Jewish immigrants from Russia.

This timeline of antisemitism chronicles the facts of antisemitism, hostile actions or discrimination against Jews as a religious or ethnic group, in the 21st century. It includes events in the history of antisemitic thought, actions taken to combat or relieve the effects of antisemitism, and events that affected the prevalence of antisemitism in later years. The history of antisemitism can be traced from ancient times to the present day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congregation Anshai Emeth</span> Reform synagogue in Peoria, Illinois, United States

Congregation Anshai Emeth is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 5614 North University Street, in Peoria, Illinois, in the United States. Established in 1859, the synagogue is the second oldest Jewish congregation in Illinois, and as of 2019 has the largest membership of any Jewish congregation in Peoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Tina Isa</span> 1989 honor killing of an American teen in St. Louis, Missouri

Palestina Zein "Tina" Isa was an American teenage girl murdered in an honor killing in St. Louis, Missouri by her parents, Zein and Maria Isa. Her death was recorded on audiotape during Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) surveillance on Zein Isa due to his association with the Abu Nidal Organization (ANO). He and his wife were both convicted for first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Zein Isa died of diabetes before he could be executed. Maria Isa was later resentenced to life imprisonment and died in prison.

Hebrew Sick Benefit Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery in Winnipeg, Canada. Founded in 1911, it contained approximately 3,500 graves as of 1996. It also contains a war memorial to fallen Jewish servicemen in World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Desecration of graves</span> Act of vandalism to dishonour the dead

Desecration of graves involves intentional acts of vandalism, theft or destruction in places where humans are interred: this includes body snatching. It has long been considered taboo to desecrate or otherwise violate graves or grave markers of the deceased, and in modern times it has been prohibited by law. Desecration is defined as violating something that is sacred.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">La Tablada Israelite Cemetery</span> Jewish cemetery in Anacosta, Washington, D.C.

The La Tablada Israelite Cemetery, also known simply as the La Tablada Cemetery, is a Jewish cemetery located in the city of La Tablada, in the Greater Buenos Aires conurbation of Argentina. It was established in 1936 and is operated by the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Hauser, Christine (2019-03-25). "A Jewish Cemetery in Missouri Was Vandalized and Repaired. Now a Man Has Been Sentenced". New York Times . Archived from the original on 2022-01-18. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  2. 1 2 Maher, Chris (21 February 2017). "Missouri Jewish Cemetery Is a Target of Mass Vandalism". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  3. "Welcome to Chesed Shel Emeth Society".
  4. Lisenby, Ashley (22 February 2017). "For some families, pain at finding vandalized headstones at University City cemetery". St. Louis Post Dispatch. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  5. "Man was drunk, mad at friend when he damaged Jewish cemetery, prosecutors say".

38°40′17″N90°20′03″W / 38.671525°N 90.334190°W / 38.671525; -90.334190