Last Saturday night, our class visited the KKBE Jewish cemetery, the oldest Jewish Cemetery in the Southern part of the United States. The
Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Cemetery was established in Charleston, South Carolina. This piece of land is said to be the second oldest surviving Jewish burial ground in the South!
Right when you walk into the cemetery, there is a sink off to the side of the entrance. It was mentioned by one of our tour guides that, "it is a tradition to wash your hands after visiting a cemetery." This was very interesting to me as I have never heard this practice before. Another thing that I noticed was that there were
small stones on top of some of the grave markers in the cemetery. Our guides informed us that "the stones are a symbol of remembrance and respect." This tradition originated in the Sahara desert when someone died. Their bodies would be covered in stones to prohibit animals from digging them up and consuming them.
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| A headstone that is currently being refurbished. |
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The grave marker of the second female president of the KKBE.
An overview of the cemetery. |
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