First Shearith Israel Graveyard

Histoire Itinérante

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"𝑳𝒐𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝑻𝒆𝒍-𝑨𝒗𝒊𝒗 𝒐𝒖 𝑱𝒆́𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒎, 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝒀𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒂𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒍𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒖𝒔 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒆́ 𝒋𝒖𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒖 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆, 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆 𝒅𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒖𝒔 𝒅𝒆 1,5 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒅𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒔. 𝑺𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒖𝒙 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔 𝒆́𝒗𝒆́𝒏𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒅𝒖 𝑿𝑰𝑿𝒆 𝒆𝒕 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒅𝒖 𝑿𝑿𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒆̀𝒄𝒍𝒆, 𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝑬𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒔-𝑼𝒏𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒆́ 𝒍'𝒖𝒏𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒅𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒈𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒔 𝑱𝒖𝒊𝒇𝒔 𝒅'𝑬𝒖𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒆 – 𝒒𝒖𝒊 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒖𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒏-𝑨̂𝒈𝒆 𝒍𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒖𝒔 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒆́ 𝒋𝒖𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒆 𝒍𝒂 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒆̀𝒕𝒆 𝒆𝒕 𝒒𝒖𝒊 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒖 𝒅𝒆́𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆́𝒆𝒔 1940 𝒑𝒓𝒆̀𝒔 𝒅𝒆 60% 𝒅𝒆𝒔 𝑱𝒖𝒊𝒇𝒔 𝒅𝒖 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆. 𝑳𝒆𝒔 𝑬𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒔-𝑼𝒏𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒖𝒋𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒅'𝒉𝒖𝒊 𝒑𝒍𝒖𝒔 𝒅𝒆 7 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒅'𝒉𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒅𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒋𝒖𝒊𝒗𝒆 (𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒖𝒏 𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒓𝒆́𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂̀ 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝒀𝒐𝒓𝒌 !), 𝒆𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒍𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒊𝒇 𝒅𝒖 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒒𝒖'𝒊𝒍 𝒚 𝒂̀ 𝒑𝒆𝒖 𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒔 (𝒍𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒖𝒋𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒅'𝒉𝒖𝒊 𝒐𝒄𝒄𝒖𝒑𝒆́𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓 𝑰𝒔𝒓𝒂𝒆̈𝒍). 𝑳'𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒆 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝒀𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒆́𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒆́𝒆 𝒂̀ 𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆 𝒅𝒆 𝒔𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒆́ 𝒋𝒖𝒊𝒗𝒆 (𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒆), 𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆́𝒆 𝒅𝒆̀𝒔 𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒔 𝒅𝒆 𝒍'𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒕 𝒅𝒆 𝒍𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒅𝒆 𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆 𝒒𝒖𝒊 𝒆́𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒆́𝒆 𝒍𝒂 "𝑵𝒐𝒖𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆-𝑨𝒎𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒎", 𝒆𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆́𝒓𝒆́𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓 𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝑱𝒖𝒊𝒇𝒔 𝒆́𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒓𝒆́𝒔 𝒂𝒖 𝑵𝒐𝒖𝒗𝒆𝒂𝒖 𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆 𝒍'𝒖𝒏𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒔 "𝑵𝒐𝒖𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆-𝑱𝒆́𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒎". First Shearith Israel Graveyard, also known as Chatham Square Cemetery, is a tiny Jewish graveyard at 55-57 St. James Place in the Two Bridges neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. It is the oldest of three Manhattan graveyards currently maintained by Congregation Shearith Israel (Hebrew, "Remnant of Israel"), which is itself the oldest Jewish congregation in North America. Today, the cemetery is a mere fragment of its original extent. Only about a hundred headstones and above ground tombs can still be seen in what remains of the old burial ground, which rises slightly above street level. It is the only remaining 17th century structure in Manhattan. 𝐀 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐀𝐦𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟏𝟕𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐲 What is now called the "First Shearith Israel Graveyard," near Chatham Square in Lower Manhattan, was in use from 1683 to 1833. An older cemetery called "Beth Haim," dated to 1656 — two years after the community arrived, was located around the corner of Madison and Oliver Streets. The site for First Shearith Israel Graveyard was originally on a hill overlooking the East River in an open area at the northern periphery of the British-Dutch colonial settlement. The plot was purchased in 1682 by Joseph Bueno de Mesquita, and its first interment was for his relative, Benjamin Bueno de Mesquita, the following year. The cemetery expanded in the 1700s so that at one point it extended from Chatham Square over what is now the upper part of Oliver Street down to Bancker (now Madison) Street. In a letter in 1776, a staff officer of General George Washington recommended emplacing an artillery battery "at the foot of the Jews' burying ground" to help secure Long Island Sound. American prisoners of war were buried en masse in entrenchments beyond the graveyard. In 1823, a city ordinance prohibited burials south of Canal Street, compelling the congregation to rely on its second burial ground, consecrated in 1805 at West 11th Street in Greenwich Village. (Notwithstanding this, a few more burials took place at Chatham Square up to 1833.) Much of this burden was alleviated in 1829, when Shearith Israel's third cemetery was consecrated at 21st Street just west of 6th Avenue. Encroaching development and erosion necessitated several instances over the years in which the congregation was forced to reduce the size of the Chatham Square Cemetery and disinter bodies, which were moved to their three other graveyards. In 1851, city public health officials prohibited burial south of 86th Street and in partnership with other synagogues, the congregation purchased a large plot of land in Ridgewood, Queens as a fourth cemetery. The most notable of these instances was in 1855, when a large portion of the cemetery was seized by eminent domain. This accommodated expansion of the Bowery — including the cut-through of today's St. James Place — and some 256 graves were removed. Today, access to the cemetery is by appointment only. 𝑺𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆(𝒔) : 𝑾𝒊𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒆́𝒅𝒊𝒂 ; 𝑯𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝑰𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒆́𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆"