A Jewish cemetery ("beit alamin" or "beit kvarot") is a cemetery

Cemetery

A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...

 where members of the Jewish faith are buried in keeping with Jewish tradition

Halakha

Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...

.

Known in Hebrew as "house of eternity," the land of the cemetery is considered holy and a special consecration ceremony takes place on its inauguration. Establishing a cemetery is one of the first priorities for a new Jewish community. A Jewish cemetery is generally purchased and supported with communal funds.

History

Early Jewish cemeteries were located outside of the city. In the Diaspora

Diaspora

A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...

, it is traditional to bury the dead with the feet in the direction of Jerusalem. The tombstones

Headstone

A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. In most cases they have the deceased's name, date of birth, and date of death inscribed on them, along with a personal message, or prayer.- Use :...

 usually have inscriptions in Hebrew and the regional language. During the Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 regime, Jewish cemeteries all over Europe were destroyed and desecrated.

The largest Jewish cemeteries of Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 can be found in Budapest

Kozma Street Cemetery

The Kozma Street Cemetery is the biggest Jewish cemetery of Budapest, Hungary. It is located next to the New Public Cemetery .- Jewish cemetery :...

, Łódź, Prague

New Jewish Cemetery

The New Jewish Cemetery in Prague was established in 1891 to relieve the space problem at the Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague. It is about 10 times bigger than the Old Jewish Cemetery and provides space for approximately 100 000 graves, therefore having the capacity to serve for a whole century...

, Warsaw

Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery

The Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery is one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Europe. Located on Warsaw's Okopowa street and abutting the Powązki Cemetery at , the Jewish Cemetery was established in 1806 and occupies 33 hectares of land. The cemetery contains over 200,000 marked graves, as well...

 and Berlin

Weißensee Cemetery

The Weißensee Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery located in the neighborhood of Weißensee in Berlin, Germany. It is the second largest Jewish cemetery in Europe. The cemetery covers approximately and contains approximately 115,000 graves. It was dedicated in 1880....

. Other Jewish cemeteries in Europe include the Jewish Cemetery in Khotyn

Jewish Cemetery in Khotyn

The Jewish cemetery of Khotyn, Ukraine.- Background :The city of Khotyn is located in the Chernivtsi oblast of Ukraine. According to the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the town was almost entirely Jewish or Russian...

.
In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, the Coming Street Cemetery

Coming Street Cemetery

The Coming Street Cemetery is located at 189 Coming Street, in Charleston, South Carolina. This Jewish cemetery, one of the oldest in the United States was founded in 1762 and is the oldest Jewish burial ground in the South...

, in Charleston

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

, South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

, Mikveh Israel Cemetery

Mikveh Israel Cemetery

Mikveh Israel Cemetery is the oldest Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, although the oldest in the United States is the Second Cemetery of the Congregation Shearith Israel in New York...

 in Philadelphia

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, Hebrew Cemetery

Hebrew Cemetery of Richmond

The Hebrew Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, also known as Hebrew Burying Ground, dates from 1816. This Jewish cemetery, one of the oldest in the United States, was founded in 1816 as successor to the 1789 Franklin Street Burial Grounds of 1789. Among those interred here are Josephine Cohen Joel,...

 in Richmond

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, B' Nai Israel Cemetery in Ashland, Wisconsin

Ashland, Wisconsin

Ashland is a city in Ashland and Bayfield counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The city is a port on Lake Superior, near the head of Chequamegon Bay. The population was 8,695 at the 2010 census....

, and the Old Jewish Cemetery

Old Jewish Cemetery, Cincinnati

The Old Jewish Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio, is the oldest Jewish cemetery west of the Allegheny Mountains. Opened in 1821, it is located just northwest of Downtown Cincinnati in the Betts-Longworth Historic District. It is situated just west of Central Avenue on the north side of Chestnut Street,...

 in Cincinnati

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

are some of the country's oldest Jewish cemeteries.

The mission of the International Jewish Cemetery Project is to document every Jewish burial site in the world.