The pioneering Jews who found their way to small towns in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and southwestern Tennessee established cemeteries even before they built synagogues. The highest level of gemilut hasadim –the giving of loving kindness that Jewish tradition calls for—is caring for the dead. Before anything else, these pioneers buried and honored their dead. 

For years, travelers in the rural South might have come across crumbling headstones or weed-strewn markers with Hebrew lettering on them that indicate long-gone Jewish communities and their cemeteries.

Still, approximately 25 historic Jewish cemeteries left in the region continue to function and need to plan for sustainability.

Since receiving nonprofit designation at the end of last year, the Southern Jewish Cemetery Association (SJCA) has commenced a plan to fund a $1 million endowment to support an infrastructure to oversee the administration and management of these cemeteries in perpetuity. Each cemetery must still ensure that it is adequately endowed to pay for the required upkeep that SCJA will ultimately manage.

The SJCA board of directors is drawn from community leaders with a demonstrated interest in the association’s mission, along with family members whose loved ones are buried in the cemeteries. The Jewish Foundation of Memphis under the auspices of the Jewish Community Partners of Memphis acts as fiscal agent for SJCA.

The Jewish Community Legacy Project was instrumental in the creation of the plan to preserve rural Southern cemeteries and will continue to be a guiding force as the association reaches for its goal of safeguarding those sacred places. As the Talmud states, care of cemeteries is foundational.

JCLP Senior Vice-President Noah Levine is an ex-officio member of the SJCA board and can answer questions about the association. Reach him at (678) 429-8895 or l_noah@bellsouth.net for more information about this historic initiative.

July 20, 2022