Ahavas Chesed Cemetery

Infobox_cemetery
name = Ahavas Chesed Cemetery


imagesize = 280px
caption = The entrance gates to Ahavas Chesed Cemetery.
established = 1898
country = United States
location = Mobile, Alabama
coordinates =
type = Private
owner = Congregation Ahavas Chesed
size = convert|2|acre|ha|1|graves=
website =
findagrave =
political =

Ahavas Chesed Cemetery, is a historic Jewish cemetery located in Mobile, Alabama. It was established by the Ahavas Chesed congregation in 1898. It covers about convert|2|acre of land in a narrow strip that abuts the Sha'arai Shomayim Cemetery.Sledge, John Sturdivant. "Cities of Silence: A Guide to Mobile's Historic Cemeteries", pages 80-89. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 2002.]

History

The late 19th century saw an influx of Russian and Eastern European Orthodox Jews (now Conservative) to Mobile, joining the well established Reform Jewish community in the city. This group of newcomers began meeting in the home of Jacob Levinson in 1894 and called themselves Ahavas Chesed, or "Love of Kindness."cite web|title="History"|work="Ahavas Chesed Synagogue"|url=http://nuke2.olis.com/Home/HistoryoftheCongregation/tabid/454/Default.aspx
accessdate=2008-04-15] They purchased a site for burials on September 29, 1898, adjacent to the Sha'arai Shomayim Cemetery, where their dead could be buried in stricter adherence to ancient Jewish custom than is practiced by the Reform congregations.

The group converted a home at the corner of Conti and Warren Streets into a synagogue in 1908 and by 1911 had built a new building on that same site. The congregation moved to a new synagogue on Dauphin Street in 1956 and then moved again in 1990 to their present location on Regents Way.

The congregation of Ahavas Chesed utilize a chevra kadisha. The dead are not embalmed prior to interment, instead the body is ritually washed a few hours after death and placed in simple white garments. The body is not viewed after being placed in a simple wooden coffin. The headstones are all roughly the same size, to show equality in the eyes of God.

Gallery

Hebrew

ee also

*Church Street Graveyard
*Magnolia Cemetery
*Old Catholic Cemetery
*Sha'arai Shomayim Cemetery

References