Touring KKBE

In a make up for the class we missed du to Dorian, this Saturday our professor took us to the Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim synagogue's cemetery for a tour with two very knowledgeable guides.  

One of our guides

Unfortunately, I was running behind and made a very rude, very late entrance to the cemetery during their presentation.  

Luckily I was allowed to just blend in and listen after that, and I found some very interesting things.  For example, there are "800 people buried six feet underground" there.  This includes 12 revolutionary war soldiers, 8 from the war of 1812, and 23 from the civil war. 

Along with that, the guides, Anita Moise Rosenberg and Randi Serrens, explained to us that "death is viewed as unholy in Judaism", thus providing an explanation as to why the synagogue is nowhere near its graveyard.

A ledger stone in restoration

Towards the front of the graveyard, there is a sink- which I found quite strange until one of the guides explained that it is customary in Judaism to wash your hands after visiting a cemetery.  I thought that was very cool, but I'm wondering where the running water comes from if the church isn't nearby.  Do they pay for a separate water supply just for the graveyard?

I thought that this trip was extremely interesting- the guides were very kind and knew what they were talking about and had a plethora of information.  The graveyard itself was beautiful, too, and I loved the different types of grave markers found there.

Lopez family area