{"id":208,"date":"2008-05-23T22:27:16","date_gmt":"2008-05-24T01:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.recoletacemetery.com\/?p=208"},"modified":"2008-05-23T22:27:16","modified_gmt":"2008-05-24T01:27:16","slug":"not-only-for-catholics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/recoletacemetery.com\/?p=208","title":{"rendered":"197. not only for catholics"},"content":{"rendered":"

A single Jewish tomb reminds visitors of the multi-denominational character of Buenos Aires. Although it sits unoccupied today, this is<\/span>was the only tomb in Recoleta Cemetery decorated with a Star of David:<\/p>\n

\"Benjam\u00edn<\/p>\n

When the cemetery was founded in 1822, the majority of the city’s population was Catholic so it was blessed accordingly. During the presidency of Bartolom\u00e9 Mitre<\/a> the blessing was officially removed when he insisted that a prominent member of the Masonic Order be buried there. Or so the story goes. These days, all public cemeteries in Buenos Aires are non-denominational. However given the conservative class of the families present, Recoleta Cemetery remains 99% Catholic.<\/p>\n

Not much is known about Benjam\u00edn Breitman or how he came to purchase a plot, but the history of Jewish burials in Argentina began with the establishment of the community in Argentina. Founded in the 1860s the Templo Libertad<\/strong> on Plaza Lavalle may not be the oldest synagogue in Buenos Aires, but it was the most important for early Jewish immigrants:<\/p>\n

\"Templo<\/p>\n

Jewish tradition foregoes ostentatious burials, given that all are equal after death. The largest non-Catholic cemetery during the early years of the Jewish community in Buenos Aires was the Cementerio de Victoria<\/strong> (now Plaza 1\u00ba de Mayo). Sponsored mainly by the Protestant community & 50% funded by the UK, Jews & Protestants were buried together at the same location. Popularly referred to as the Cementerio de los Disidentes<\/a><\/strong>, it filled to capacity during the 1871 yellow fever epidemic. Back then if you weren’t Catholic, then you must be a dissident.<\/p>\n

The Jewish community had an opportunity to claim part of Chacarita Cemetery<\/a> when it opened but opted to wait for their own burial ground. In 1912 the Cementerio de Liniers<\/strong> opened (actually just outside the city limits of Buenos Aires) exclusively for Jews & was mainly for those of Ashkenazi descent. Being buried there still remains a sign of high status within the community. Jews of Moroccan descent—many referred to as “impure” based on their connections with the mafia—opened a cemetery south of Buenos Aires in Avellaneda. It is currently closed. In 1936, another cemetery was opened for poorer Jews in Tablada & the newest cemetery in Ciudadela is typically for those of Sephardic descent. All these cemeteries are closed to visitors.<\/p>\n

Jewish funeral rites are unique but unfortunately beyond the scope of this blog. Many thanks to Leonor Slavsky for sharing her investigations at talks sponsored by the Instituto Hist\u00f3rico<\/a>.<\/p>\n

—————————————————<\/p>\n

Update (30 Jul 2010):<\/strong> Earlier this year the plaque with the Star of David on the Benjam\u00edn Breitman<\/strong> family tomb was removed. Reasons are unknown for the removal, but Marcelo unexpectedly found another vault with possible Jewish symbolism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Benjam\u00edn<\/p>\n

Update (18 mar 2011):<\/strong> According to a comment below, the plaque fell from the tomb from neglect & is now stored in the Administration office for safekeeping.<\/p>\n

Update (31 May 2013):<\/strong>\u00a0According to the Find A Grave website<\/a>, Benjam\u00edn Breitman passed away on 04 Mar 2012 & was buried in his family tomb the following day. Thanks to Ra\u00fal for the info!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A single Jewish tomb reminds visitors of the multi-denominational character of Buenos Aires. Although it sits unoccupied today, this iswas the only tomb in Recoleta…<\/p>\n

Continue reading197. not only for catholics<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/recoletacemetery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/recoletacemetery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/recoletacemetery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recoletacemetery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recoletacemetery.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/recoletacemetery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/recoletacemetery.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recoletacemetery.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recoletacemetery.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}