Pape Avenue Cemetery | |
---|---|
Details | |
Established | 1849 |
Closed | 1930s |
Location | 317 Pape Avenue, Leslieville, Toronto |
Country | Canada |
Type | Jewish cemetery |
Owned by | Holy Blossom Temple |
Pape Avenue Cemetery, officially known as Holy Blossom Cemetery, is the first Jewish cemetery in the city of Toronto, Canada. The small cemetery is now closed to new burials, and is mostly hidden within the residential neighbourhood of Leslieville. [1]
It was established in 1849 by two prominent local businessmen Judah G. Joseph and Abraham Nordheimer (it is uncertain if Joseph is buried here, while Nordheimer died during his trip to Germany in 1862 and is buried at Bamberg Jewish Cemetery [2] ). At the time the nearest Jewish cemeteries were in Montreal or Buffalo, and Joseph was concerned for his fatally ill son Samuel, who eventually became the first burial in the new cemetery. The location near the corner of Pape (then called Centre Road) and Gerrard was then in still rural areas to the east of the city. It was not close to much of the Jewish community, but was a convenient location to purchase.
It was one of the first Jewish institutions established in Toronto, being opened some years before the city's first synagogue. When Toronto Hebrew Congregation, the predecessor to Holy Blossom Temple, was established in 1856, it took over management of the cemetery, and continues to run it today. Over the next decades almost all the early founders of Toronto's Jewish community would be buried there.
The small Pape Avenue Cemetery quickly ran out of room, and it was closed to new burials in the 1930s.
In 1883 the nearby Jones Avenue Cemetery opened at 480 Jones Avenue in Riverdale, serving the members of Beth Tzedec Congregation's two predecessor synagogues.
To replace it, Holy Blossom opened a new cemetery further east at 66 Brimley Road in the Cliffcrest area of Scarborough, Ontario.
Notable burials at Holy Blossom Memorial Park:
Mount Pleasant Cemetery is a cemetery located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and is part of the Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries. It was opened in November 1876 and is located north of Moore Park, a neighbourhood of Toronto. The cemetery has kilometres of drives and walking paths interspersed with fountains, statues and botanical gardens, as well as rare and distinct trees. It was originally laid out by German-born landscape architect Henry Adolph Engelhardt, inspired by the European and American garden cemeteries of the 19th century, and with influences from Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston.
Oakland Cemetery is one of the largest cemetery green spaces in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded as Atlanta Cemetery in 1850 on six acres (2.4 hectares) of land southeast of the city, it was renamed in 1872 to reflect the large number of oak and magnolia trees growing in the area. By that time, the city had grown and the cemetery had enlarged correspondingly to the current 48 acres (190,000 m2). Since then, Atlanta has continued to expand so that the cemetery is now located in the center of the city. Oakland is an excellent example of a Victorian-style cemetery, and reflects the "garden cemetery" movement started and exemplified by Mount Auburn Cemetery in Massachusetts.
The Holy Blossom Temple is a Reform synagogue located at 1950 Bathurst Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the oldest Jewish congregation in Toronto. Founded in 1856, it has more than 7,000 members. W. Gunther Plaut, who died on 8 February 2012 at the age of 99, was a long time Senior Rabbi for this synagogue. Notable members and supporters include Heather Reisman and Gerald Schwartz who made donations to create the Gerald Schwartz/Heather Reisman Centre for Jewish Learning at Holy Blossom Temple.
Adath Israel Congregation is a Conservative synagogue located at 37 Southbourne Avenue in the North York district of Toronto, Ontario. It is one of the largest Conservative Synagogues in Canada, with approximately 1,450 member families.
Mikveh Israel Cemetery is the oldest Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, giving evidence of a settled community as early as 1740. A number of outstanding patriots, pioneers, and other notables of the Jewish faith who made important contributions to the history and freedom of America during the Colonial and Revolutionary period were interred here, and for this reason, in 1959, by an act of Congress, the burial ground was designated as a unit of the Independence National Historical Park, while continuing to be maintained by the sponsoring Congregation Mikveh Israel. The cemetery was certified by the Philadelphia Historical Commission, and in 1971, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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.
First Shearith Israel Graveyard, also known as Chatham Square Cemetery, is a tiny Jewish graveyard at 55-57 St. James Place in the Two Bridges neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is the oldest of three Manhattan graveyards currently maintained by Congregation Shearith Israel, which is itself the oldest Jewish congregation in North America. Today, the cemetery is a mere fragment of its original extent. Only about a hundred headstones and above ground tombs can still be seen in what remains of the old burial ground, which rises slightly above street level. It is the only remaining 17th century structure in Manhattan.
Congregation Beth Israel is a Modern Orthodox synagogue located at 4004 West Esplanade Avenue, Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the United States.
Congregation Rodeph Sholom is a Reform Jewish synagogue at 7 West 83rd Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York. Founded in 1842 by German Jewish immigrants, it is one of the oldest synagogues in the United States.
Dawes Road Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in Scarborough, on St. Clair Avenue east of Victoria Park Avenue. Established in 1903, it was the third Jewish cemetery in Toronto. The first cemeteries, the Pape Avenue Cemetery and Jones Avenue Cemetery, had been established in the eastern part of the city. Dawes Road Cemetery was also placed in what was then a rural area on the edge of the city. Since then some 13,000 people have been buried there, including 11 Canadian servicemen of World War II whose graves are registered by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Synagogues may be considered "oldest" based on different criteria, and can be oldest in the sense of oldest surviving building, or oldest in the sense of oldest congregation. Some old synagogue buildings have been in continuous use as synagogues, while others have been converted to other purposes, and others, such as the Touro Synagogue, were shuttered for many decades. Some early established congregations have been in continuous existence, while other early congregations have ceased to exist.
West Ham Jewish Cemetery is a cemetery for Jews in West Ham in the London Borough of Newham, England. It was established in 1856 by the New Synagogue on Great St. Helen's, soon joined by the Great Synagogue in Duke's Place, both of them London congregations. It has been closed to new burials since 2002
Toronto's Jewish community is the most populous and one of the oldest in the country, forming a significant part of the history of the Jews in Canada. It numbered about 240,000 in the 2001 census, having overtaken Montreal in the 1970s. As of 2011, the Greater Toronto Area is home to 188,710 Jews. The community in Toronto is composed of many different Jewish ethnic divisions, reflecting waves of immigration which started in the early 19th century. Canada's largest city is a centre of Jewish Canadian culture, and Toronto's Jews have played an important role in the development of the city.
Washington Cemetery is a historical and predominantly Jewish burial ground located at 5400 Bay Parkway in Mapleton, Brooklyn, New York, United States.
Shaarei Tzedec Congregation is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue located at 397 Markham Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Aldershot Cemetery is the main public burial ground for the town of Aldershot in Hampshire.
Abraham Nordheimer was a German Jewish-Canadian musician, merchant and music publisher who established Canada's first publishing house specializing in music.
Beth Tzedec Memorial Park is a Jewish cemetery on Bathurst Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Shaarey Zedek Cemetery is a Conservative Jewish burial ground in the North End of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Operated by the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue, it is the largest Jewish cemetery in the Canadian Prairies, with more than 8,000 graves as of 1996. In 2012, a Jewish interfaith burial ground was installed in a fenced-off section with a separate entrance to accommodate interment of Jews alongside their non-Jewish spouses. The cemetery features a war memorial honouring Winnipeg residents who fell in World War I and World War II.