History of Death the Jewish Way in Indianapolis by Tevie Jacobs

HISTORY OF DEATH THE JEWISH WAY IN INDIANAPOLIS

BY TEVIE JACOBS

Inevitably, after Jews arrived in a city or town during the early years of the United States, they came together (1) to form a congregation so that they could worship as Jews and (2) to purchase a plot of ground for a Jewish cemetery so that they could be buried in hallowed ground. In some cases, these events took place shortly after the first Jews arrived; in other cases, more arrivals were far between, so that it took almost a decade or more for the above two steps to be taken. In many new Jewish communities, steps 1 and 2 were reversed: the cemetery was established first.

In Indianapolis, the formation of the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation came first. It was formed in November, 1856, nine years after the first three Jews arrived. There were 14 names in the original charter (still preserved in the hand-written minutes of the meetings of the groups Board of Trustees.) A cemetery committee was appointed almost immediately, but it seems to have taken days, weeks and months to collect donations from members and to find a suitable location they could afford. Finally, in late October 1858, the secretary reported the purchase of a 3112 acre plot south of the town. Later, South Meridian Street came near the east side of the area, and Kelly Street marked its south boundary.

Because this tiny, new congregation was still considered an orthodox one, it could be assumed that its fimeral services would contain the prayers recited for many centuries. From its very beginning, the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation followed the ideas of Dr. Isaac Mayer Wise, who a half century later founded Reform Judaism. The congregation adopted the new prayer book titled Minhag America in 1857, and used the fimeral service within it. (The fimeral service from the 1857 Minhag America is reproduced at the end of this article.)

The dead were buried in simple wood caskets constructed by nearby carpenters and cabinet makers, for there were no undertakers or morticians then. All the graves had markers, even those of infants. All bodies were buried facing the same direction: east. The reason is simple: they faced the Holy Land .. .Jerusalem.