A community dedication service will be held Sunday, August 12th 2007 at 10:00 a.m. at Mt. Hope Cemetery (Indian Trail), Rochester NY to rededicate the first Jewish Cemetery and several other sacred Jewish burial areas. Through the generosity of the City of Rochester Mt. Hope Cemetery, David Levy of Parsky Memorial Chapel and Burt and Audrey Gordon, these sections of hallowed Jewish graves were restored, where possible, and permanent monuments erected.
The areas were rediscovered during the Temple B'rith Kodesh October 2005 Mitzvah Day. Sections O numbers 396 & 397 were desecrated by time and vandals. The Hebrew inscriptions indicated a Jewish burial site dating to 1849. Research by Earl Gurell and Jerry Zakalik showed that these sections indeed were the first public Jewish burial plots in Rochester. One section was purchased by several of the founders of the then Orthodox temple "Berith Kodesh" on April 3rd, 1848 (seven months before the temple was founded). Another section was purchased by the Rochester German Benevolent Society in 1849. Temple B'rith Kodesh did not have a map or current knowledge of these areas when Gurell and Zakalik got involved. Actually, Emily Wood and Suzanne Clark of the TBK office staff helped lead to the discovery of these forgotten areas.
The original purchase recorded, April 3, 1848, was made by Joseph Altman, Joseph Wile, and R. Rotschild for $80. Subsequent to this in 1885 Mr. Julius Wile, Mr. Joseph Katz and Mr. Leopold Garson with Mr. Henry Michaels as trustee, purchased "The Jewish Poor Lot" for $1. This created a Jewish place for the burial of the poor Jews of the city of Rochester. We found no markings indicating this area.
All of these areas give testimony to the hard lives endured by the early settlers of Rochester. Rich and poor alike suffered the loss of many of their children to sickness and disease. From the 1840's to the 1870's, 128 children and 47 adults were buried in the B'rith Kodesh area.
It is fitting and proper we rededicate the burial places of these brave founders of our Jewish community. We ask that the community gather at Mt. Hope to commemorate this sacred ground.
We would like to thank the staff and volunteers of Mt. Hope Cemetery and The Friends of Mt. Hope Cemetery: Clare Mosher, Marilyn Nolte and Richard Miller for all their efforts on the project. Thank you to David Levy from Parsky Memorial Chapel for the Temple B'rith Kodesh/German Benevolent Society Monument. Thanks also to Audrey and Burton Gordon through the Foundation for the Jewish Community for funding the monument for The Jewish Poor Lot. Thanks to Warren Alent (of blessed memory) of Alent-Baker Monuments for the work they did on the monuments. Thanks also to Lawrence Fine of the Jewish Community Federation for his help on the project. Very special thanks to the City of Rochester and Mr. Jeffery Simmons, Cemetery Operations Supervisor for the support and efforts on behalf of the Rochester Jewish Community.
