Mount Hebron Cemetery (New York City)

Coordinates: 40°44′03″N 73°49′50″W / 40.73417°N 73.83056°W / 40.73417; -73.83056

Mount Hebron Cemetery

Details
Year established	1909
Country	USA
Location	Flushing, New York
Type	Jewish
Website	Mount Hebron Cemetery

Mount Hebron is a Jewish cemetery located in the Flushing neighborhood of New York City. It was founded in 1903 as the Jewish section of Cedar Grove Cemetery.^[1] It is noted for its Yiddish theater section. ^[2][3]. In 2011 it was apparent that many of the markings for the "sections" and "lines" had disappeared or were damaged due to non-maintenance, particularly in the older sections of the cemetery such as Section 38, which makes locating graves particularly difficult for the visitor. These same older sections have many gravestones and other monuments either turned over, damaged, or otherwise clearly unkempt.

There is a "Workmen's Circle" section, which has 12,636 burials from Jewish and non-Jewish members of the Workmen's Circle. This appears to be the one place in the entire cemetery where Jewish and Christian graves are mixed together.

There is also a large monument erected by immigrants and descendants of immigrants from the city of Grodno in what is today western Belarus. The monument is dedicated "In memoriam to our dear parents, brothers and sisters of the city of Grodno and environs who were brutally persecuted and slain by the Nazis during World War II." [3]. This is one of several such monuments in the cemetery.

Mount Hebron Cemetery's Block 67 section is reserved for people who worked in New York City's Yiddish theater industry.^[4]

Notable burials

Alfred Eisenstaedt

• Celia Adler (1889-1979), Yiddish theater actress
• Henrietta Jacobson Adler (1906-1988), Yiddish theater actress
• Julius Adler (1906-1994), Yiddish theater actor
• Ben Bernie (1891-1943), bandleader and radio personality
• Reizl Bozyk (1914-1993), Yiddish theater actress
• Louis Buchalter (1897-1944), Organized crime figure
• Lillian Lux Burstein (1918-2005), Yiddish theater actress
• Pesach'ke Burstein (1896-1986) Yiddish theater actor
• Sergei Dovlatov (1941-1990), writer
• Shep Fields (1910-1981), band leader
• Misha Fishzon (1884-1949)
• Leo Frank (1884–1915), the only Jew ever lynched in the United States
• Selig Grossinger (d. 12/18/1931). He is the founder of the famous Catskill Jewish resort, Grossinger's. He, his wife, and several descendants are buried in a family plot here. He was part of the Balegroder Congregation burial society [4].
• Alan King (1927-2004), comedian
• Aaron Lebedeff, actor (died 1960)
• Benny Leonard (1896–1947), a renowned prize fighter who was once lightweight champ and won over 200 fights
• Shifra Lerer (1915-2011), Yiddish theater actress^[4][5]
• Menashe Oppenheim (1905-1973), Yiddish theater and film actor
• Molly Picon Kalish (1898-1992), Yiddish theater actress
• Jack Pearl (1894-1982), vaudeville performer and radio comedian
• Miriam Kressyn Rexite (1910-1996), Yiddish theater actress and singer
• Seymour Rexite (1908-2002), Yiddish theater actor and singer
• Menasha Skulnik (1892-1970), Yiddish theater actor
• Bertha Kalish Spachner (died 1939), Yiddish theater actress
• Maurice Schwartz (1891-1960), Yiddish theater actor
• Boris Thomashevsky (1866-1939), Yiddish Theater actor
• Bessie Thomashefsky (1873-1962), Yiddish theater actress

References

Notes

1. ^ Jeff Gottlieb, Queens Jewish Heritage Trail, Published by Queens Jewish Historical Society, Spring 2007
2. ^ “Historian Jeff Gottlieb Creates ‘Jewish Heritage Trail’ In Queens, by John Toscano, The Queens Gazette, May 29, 2002 [1]
3. ^ For boro, such a trail Jewish heritage map to be light & serious, By Donald Bertrand, Daily News, May 26, 2002 [2]
4. ^ ^{a b} Kilgannon, Corey (2011-03-15). "Yiddish Theater Bids Farewell to Shifra Lerer". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 April 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5xe3Pb9lI. Retrieved 2011-03-20. 
5. ^ "NYC Yiddish theater actress Shifra Lerer dies". Associated Press (Wall Street Journal). 2011-03-15. http://online.wsj.com/article/APcbcb18149a794da4975e9118c87e70d9.html. Retrieved 2011-03-20.