Har HaMenuchot

Partial view of Har HaMenuchot, and the tomb of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag, the Baal HaSulam.

Har HaMenuchot (Hebrew: הר המנוחות‎, "Mount of Rest", Ashkenazi pronunciation, Har HaMenuchos, also known as the Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem) is the largest cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel. It is at the west edge of the city adjacent to the neighborhood of Givat Shaul, with commanding views of Mevaseret Zion to the north, Motza to the west, and Har Nof to the south.

History

When Har HaMenuchot opened in 1951, it greatly expanded Jerusalem's capacity for burials, as the only other large cemetery available until that time was the centuries-old burial ground on Har HaZeitim (the Mount of Olives). Today, burials are conducted in Har HaMenuchot, Har HaZeitim, and the small Sanhedria cemetery near the center of town.

As the official municipal burial ground, it accommodates free burials for Israeli citizens (although the choice of plot is left to the municipal chevra kadisha, and if a spouse wishes to be buried in the adjacent plot, he or she must pay for the second plot).

The cemetery with Har Nof in the background

Har HaMenuchot is in a continual state of expansion, with new sections opening regularly.

Like other Jewish cemeteries in Jerusalem, the plots on Har HaMenuchos consist of an underground grave topped by a large, cubic stone marker upon which is engraved the name, date and praises of the deceased. In the case of famous rabbis who are buried here, the entire top of the stone marker is inscribed with verses or phrases extolling the deeds of the deceased. The names of the deceased's family members who died in the Holocaust and thus did not have a grave are often engraved on the side of the gravestone.

The graves on Har HaMenuchot are divided into sections operated by various chevra kadishas (the Perushim, the Chassidim, the Sephardim, and the Kehillas Yerushalayim). Near the main entrance lies the Perushim's Chelkas Rabbanim (Hebrew: חלקת רבנים‎, "Rabbis' Section") which includes many gedolim of the past 60 years from around the world. While most of the graves in this section are laid out in closely packed rows, one grave stands apart in the entryway: that of Rabbi Aharon Rokeach, the fourth Belzer Rebbe, whose gravestone has become a shrine for thousands of visitors annually.

Kohanim are buried in a separate section just outside the main entrance, so that their family members who are not allowed to enter cemeteries to avoid tumah (ritual impurity) may stand by the side of the road and pray at their ancestors' graves.

Notable rabbis buried at Har HaMenuchot

• Yechezkel Abramsky, av beit din of London
• Yaakov Ades, Sephardic gadol and member of Jerusalem beit din
• Yehuda Amital, founder of Yeshivat Har Etzion, Meimad movement
• Baruch Ashlag, kabbalist
• Yehuda Ashlag, the Baal HaSulam
• Ezra Attiya, Rosh Yeshivat Porat Yosef
• Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, Jerusalem posek
• Zelig Reuven Bengis, rosh av beit din of Jerusalem
• Amram Blau, one of the founders of Neturei Karta
• Nachman Bulman, Rav in U.S. and Israel
• Shlomo Carlebach
• Shmuel Ehrenfeld, the Mattersdorfer Rav
• Mordechai Eliyahu, former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel
• Moshe Feinstein, American gadol and posek
• Binyomin Beinush Finkel, Rosh Yeshivas Mir
• Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, Rosh Yeshivas Mir
• Eliyahu Boruch Finkel, Rosh Yeshivas Mir
• Nosson Tzvi Finkel, Rosh Yeshivas Mir
• Tzvi Pesach Frank, Rav of Jerusalem
• Yozef Friedlander, Lisker Rebbe
• Yitzchak Kadouri, Sephardi kabbalist
• Meir Kahane, Kach party founder
• Chaim Mordechai Katz, Rosh Yeshivas Telz-Cleveland
• Aharon Kotler, Rosh Yeshivas Lakewood
• Shneur Kotler, Rosh Yeshivas Lakewood
• Chaim Kreiswirth, av beit din of Antwerp
• Aaron Aryeh Leifer, Nadvorna Rebbe
• Avraham Abba Leifer, Pittsburger Rebbe
• Zion Levy, Chief Rabbi of Panama
• Gershon Libman, Rosh Yeshiva of the Novardok Yeshiva network in France
• Aryeh Leib Malin, Rosh Yeshiva of Beth Hatalmud Rabbinical College
• Isser Zalman Meltzer, Rosh Yeshivas Slutsk and Etz Chaim, Jerusalem
• Yisroel Ber Odesser, Breslov rabbi
• Chanoch Dov Padwa, av beit din of London
• Menachem Porush, legislator, educator, journalist
• Louis Isaac Rabinowitz, Chief Rabbi of South Africa and Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem
• Bezalel Rakow, Gateshead Rav
• Aharon Rokeach, Belzer Rebbe
• Shulem Safrin, Komarno Rebbe
• Gedalia Schorr, Rosh Yeshivas Torah Vodaas
• Naftali Shakovitzky, Gateshead Rav
• Chaim Shmuelevitz, Rosh Yeshivas Mir
• Akiva Sofer, av beit din of Pressburg
• Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik, Brisker Rav
• Baruch Sorotzkin, Rosh Yeshivas Telz-Cleveland
• Zalman Sorotzkin, av beit din of Lutsk
• Eliezer Waldenberg, medical halakhist and member of the Jerusalem beit din
• Dov Berish Weidenfeld, av beit din of Tchebin (Trzebinia)
• Noah Weinberg, Rosh Yeshiva of Aish HaTorah
• Avraham Yoffen, Rosh Yeshivas Beis Yosef Novardok

Notable rabbis reinterred at Har HaMenuchot

• Chaim Joseph David Azulai, the Chida
• Yosef Yozel Horwitz, the Alter of Novardok
• Meir Shapiro, Rav of Lublin
• Menachem Ziemba, Rav of Warsaw

Zionist leaders buried at Har HaMenuchot

• Yitzhak Ben-Zvi
• Naftali Herz Imber

Segula graves

One grave known as a segula (propitious remedy) for childless women is that of Miriam HaKoveses (Hebrew: מרים הכובסת‎, Miriam the Laundress), who only worked in the homes of Torah scholars, including Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv and the Zvhiller Rebbe, Rabbi Shlomo Goldman. Once Miriam asked the Zvhiller Rebbe for a blessing for children, but he blessed her that in her merit, others would merit to have children. Twenty-nine years after her death in 1964, one of her neighbors had a dream in which Miriam appeared to her, told her of the Zvhiller Rebbe's promise, and gave her directions to her grave. On her yahrzeit that year, busloads of women came to pray at the grave while a Torah scholar recited prayers for the elevation of her soul. There were 32 known cases of women who prayed at Miriam's grave and gave birth to children that year. Since then, her grave has been renovated and enlarged to accommodate women year-round.

See also

• Bereavement in Judaism