Lehigh Valley Jewish Cemetery Project
By Logan Paiste
April 4, 2016
Overview
This report discusses my findings from the week-long embedded course experience in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton area, Pennsylvania. During the week of March 7th through the 11th of 2016, I conducted research about local Jewish cemeteries, the synagogues which maintain them, and took photographs of the cemeteries. In the process, I gained a hands-on understanding of the differences in customs between Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform congregations regarding the upkeep and presentation of their cemeteries. Additionally, I learned about the locations of the local Jewish cemeteries and developed appreciation for the local history which I had not previously known.
Why Study Jewish Cemeteries?
This study resulted from several factors: growing up, I had developed a close relationship with my next-door neighbors who are Reform Jews. They are like second-grandparents to me. Because of them, I always had a curiosity to learn more about Judaism, Hebrew, and Israel. Additionally, the cemetery of the local Reform synagogue, Congregation Keneseth Israel, is located near my house, and my family and I have several connections with people who are interred in this cemetery. Particularly, my family and I maintain the grave of Kelsey Buls, the daughter of a dear friend of my mother, who passed away during infancy. Of all the cemeteries which I have ever visited in my life, I have the greatest personal attachment to the cemetery of Congregation Keneseth Israel. When I learned about the JST 197B embedded course, I knew that I definitely wanted to study something related to cemeteries.
Coupled with these factors, I am also trying to connect with my Jewish heritage. My great-great-great grandmother, Mary Ruckholdt, née Eisenhart, was Jewish. The Jewish lineage discontinued when she married a Protestant man. Interestingly enough, Mary and her family had lived in Allentown in the 1800s; in her later years, it is believed that Mary, along with her husband, had moved to Philadelphia. Regarding family history, my parents and I do not know very much about this side of the family, so one of the hopes was that I could learn about Mary’s ancestry through discovering her immediate family’s graves located in the Allentown Jewish cemeteries. As a result of all of these factors, the present project came into being: learn about the local Jewish cemeteries while trying to find information about my Jewish family roots.
The Beginnings: Congregation Keneseth Israel
Cemetery of Congregation Keneseth Israel in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Photo via Henry E. Lehrich.
On Thursday, February 18th and Monday, February 22nd, 2016, I spoke briefly with Ken Kirshner, who is the President of the Board of the Cemetery Association for Congregation Keneseth Israel.(1) Ken directed me to a 16-page Google Document (as of March 27, 2015) which lists the burial locations – section, plot, and grave numbers – of those interred at the site.(2) Additionally, he informed me about a schematic top plan(3) depicting the layout of the cemetery. These resources were very beneficial for my research because not only could I help contribute to the developing Virtual Museum of Pennsylvania Jewish History(4) through the eventual posting this resource, but also I could search the locations of the graves of Eric Eisenberg and Sophie Pulaski, who are both deceased friends of the family. On Tuesday, March 8th, 2016, I visited the cemetery and took photographs of the site. Including the graves of those who I once knew, I also took photographs of the various styles of headstones as well as the inscriptions carved into them. Since Congregation Keneseth Israel has publicly provided plenty of records related to the cemetery, I decided that I should learn about the other local Jewish cemeteries.
Beth El Memorial Park
Beth El Memorial Cemetery in Whitehall, Pennsylvania. Photo via Henry E. Lehrich.
Utlilizing the International Jewish Cemetery Project’s directory,(5) I started by contacting Temple Beth El. The secretary who answered my phone call directed me to call Ivan Schonfeld, who is the President of the Board of the Cemetery Association for Temple Beth El. Through my phone call with Ivan, coupled with information from the synagogue’s website, I learned that Temple Beth El has a cemetery named the Beth El Memorial Park.(6) Since Temple Beth El is a Conservative congregation,(7) I was curious to see if there were any differences in the burial customs compared to the cemetery of Congregation Keneseth Israel.
At first glance, during my visit on March 9th, 2016, I did not notice any particularly striking differences between this cemetery and the one maintained by Congregation Keneseth Israel, especially regarding the headstones or the layout of the cemetery. I was about to leave the cemetery when I noticed several headstones at the far northeastern corner of the cemetery which caught my eye. From a distance, these headstones looked just like the other ones located throughout the cemetery. When I got up close, however, I noticed that their family names were inscribed in Russian, which is a language with a Cyrillic script. For instance, there is a headstone detailing the burial of the Гусинский family, with Абрам who died in 1994 and Зсфирь who died in 2014. I found this observation particularly striking. When I was in the Keneseth Israel cemetery, I do not recall having ever found a single headstone with Cyrillic letters carved on them. While I am quite familiar with the Star of David, Hebrew letters, and other symbols placed on the headstones, never before had I seen Cyrillic letters.
Sons of Israel Cemetery
Sons of Israel Cemetery in Whitehall, Pennsylvania. Photo via Henry E. Lehrich.
After my visit to the Beth El Memorial Park, I traveled to the cemetery of the Sons of Israel synagogue, which is an Orthodox congregation.(8) This cemetery is located closer to the urban city of Allentown – as opposed to the modern-day suburbs. Unlike the cemeteries of Congregation Keneseth Israel and Temple Beth El, the Sons of Israel Cemetery does not have plenty of extra room to grow. Immediately upon entering this cemetery, I noticed some distinct differences between the headstones of all of the cemeteries which I had visited thus far. While the headstones of the Reform and Conservative cemeteries had some Hebrew inscriptions carved on them, the headstones of the Orthodox cemetery had even more of them.
Brith Sholom Cemetery
Brith Sholom Cemetery in Fountain Hill, Pennsylvania. Photo via Henry E. Lehrich.
On March 10, 2016, I traveled to the Bethlehem (Fountain Hill) and Easton Jewish cemeteries, starting with the Brith Sholom Cemetery. When I arrived at the gate, I noticed that the words “Agudath Achim” were inscribed on it. From my phone call with Ivan Schonfeld, I had learned about the merge of the Agudas Achim synagogue, which was Orthodox, with the Sons of Israel synagogue, which also is Orthodox. While this cemetery belongs to Brith Sholom, which is Conservative,(9) nonetheless this is another example of a merging of synagogues and the subsequent ownership of their cemeteries. This cemetery is located on a steep slope in Fountain Hill. The majority of the graves are located at the south end of the cemetery, and are packed together; the north end, on the other hand, has a vast amount of extra space for more interred people to be buried in the future. Given the extra area of land which the northern end of the cemetery possesses, it can be assumed that the synagogue purchased the northern property during a later point in time. Like the headstones of the Sons of Israel cemetery, many of the older headstones contained long Hebrew inscriptions.
B’nai Abraham Cemetery 1
B’nai Abraham Cemetery 1 in Easton, Pennsylvania. Photo via Henry E. Lehrich.
A Conservative (10) congregation of the Easton area, B’nai Abraham Synagogue maintains two cemeteries. The oldest one, located on East Kleinhans Street, is almost filled to maximum capacity. The plot of land is a square, and covers the eastern half of the neighborhood block, visible on three-sides from the bordering streets. One aspect of the headstones which I had not noticed previously is that the older headstones – from 1950 and before – generally are taller in height rather than wider, with the occasional square base as opposed to the rectangular base which is common with the modern Jewish headstones. Some of the headstones were very difficult to read as they were worn in appearance.
B’nai Abraham Cemetery 2
B’nai Abraham Cemetery 2 in Easton, Pennsylvania. Photo via Henry E. Lehrich.
By the 1940s, the B’nai Abraham Synagogue had purchased a second plot of land for their cemetery to grow. The earliest burials date to 1947 and are located in a row towards the northwestern edge of the cemetery running at an angle relative to the north-to-south parallel lines of headstones. My speculation is that the cemetery association started burying people in the first row along the northwestern edge, only to change the direction of the headstones in order to accommodate more people. Since the property is the shape of a square with a rounded northwest corner, I can imagine that the cemetery association thought the overall appearance of the cemetery would look more appealing if the headstones ran parallel to the edge of the land bordering Arndt Road.
A change in the appearance of the headstones can be detected when comparing this cemetery with its former. Here, the headstones are generally more rectangular in appearance, with a smaller depth and greater width. The specific choice of stone used to create the headstone also varies. The older headstones are either gray (rarely, white) colored rock or of a material with a concrete-like appearance. In the newer B’nai Abraham cemetery, some of the headstones are black, others red, some gray, and yet others a combination of black and gray. The headstones wrap around a tree with benches surrounding it, which are the focal point of the cemetery.
Temple Covenant of Peace, Section Z of the Easton Cemetery
Temple Covenant of Peace, Section Z of the Easton Cemetery in Easton, Pennsylvania. Photo via Henry E. Lehrich.
This cemetery is a part of a larger cemetery composed of Christian graves. Unlike the Sons of Israel cemetery, Section Z of the Easton Cemetery does not have a fence separating it from the rest of the other sections. A walkway running north-south borders the western edge of this section, and connects with a walking path running parallel to the Lehigh Valley Thruway.
While the graves running along the western edge of the cemetery are from the end of the 19th century, there is still plenty of room along the northern edge and scattered plots throughout the section for future burials. I found it interesting that many of the older headstones were laid on the ground rather than raised to be read easily from eye-level. Another observation which I think is interesting is that I notice a common trend with headstones dating between the 1890s and the 1930s: ascribing the familial role of the person as a focal point of the headstone seemed to be of great importance. I suspect that having raised reliefs of familial words like “mother,” “father,” and “sister” was a popular style of the time. By the 1930s, rather than the raised reliefs on the top or bottom of the headstone, these familial words are carved in a font equal to that of the interred person’s name along the front side.
Towards the eastern edge of Section Z, more modern headstones can be found. Some of the headstones have two trees flanking their ends. In one case, a mausoleum, while small, had been constructed instead of a headstone. Some of the modern headstones do not conform to the symmetrical shapes of their predecessors. Cube-shaped row markers, which appear to date to the establishment of the cemetery, can be found along the eastern edge of the section.
Endnotes
(1) Congregation Keneseth Israel. “Cemetery Management,” Congregation Keneseth Israel: A Caring Community 2013, http://www.kilv.org/community/cemetery/management (accessed March 14, 2016).
(2) Keneseth Israel. (Click “List of Burial Sites” at the top right of the webpage to download the document.)
(3) Congregation Keneseth Israel. “Find a Burial Site,” Congregation Keneseth Israel: A Caring Community 2013, http://www.kilv.org/community/cemetery/find-a-burial-site (accessed March 14, 2016). (Click “Original Section” in second paragraph of the webpage to download the top plan.)
(4) Eliyana R. Adler. “Museum of Pennsylvania Jewish History: Penn State Student Research Forum,” Sites at Penn State 2015 https://sites.psu.edu/jewishpennsylvania/ (accessed March 14, 2016).
(5) International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies. “Allentown: Lehigh County,” IAJGS International Jewish Cemetery Project 2016 http://www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org/pennsylvania-pa/allentown-lehigh-county.html (accessed March 14, 2016).
(6) Temple Beth El. “Beth El Memorial Park,” Temple Beth El 2016 http://www.bethelallentown.org/AboutUs/Beth-El-Memorial-Park-105.cfm (accessed March 14, 2016).
(7) Temple Beth El. “History,” Temple Beth El 2016 http://www.bethelallentown.org/AboutUs/History-9.cfm (accessed March 14, 2016).
(8) Congregation Sons of Israel. “Sons of Israel Cemetery,” Congregation Sons of Israel: Serving Allentown’s Orthodox Community ~ Since 1903 2016 http://www.sonsofisrael.net/sons-of-israel-cemetery/ (accessed March 14, 2016).
(9) Congregation Brith Sholom. “About Us,” Congregation Brith Sholom 2015 http://www.brithsholom.net/programs/ (accessed March 17, 2016).
(10) Bnai Abraham Synagogue. “Bnai Abraham is a Conservative synagogue in Easton, Pennsylvania…” Bnai Abraham Synagogue 2002 http://www.bnaiabraham.org/ (accessed March 17, 2016).
* Note by Henry E Lehrich (6/26/2017): The researcher forgot one important historical fact. The Old KI cemetery is located at Fairview cemetery in South Allentown. This is where most of the original early jewish settlers were buried including the Max Hess family. I have a great Aunt and uncle buried there also. There was a portion of the cemetery allocated to Jews of Allentown. My email is Antiquedoc@aol.com *