Project number: [JOWBR, CAN-03794]

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The Sharrei Zedek Cemetery in ST JOHN, NEW BRUNSWICK, CANADA

Shaarei Zedek Cemetery – Historical Background

The first Jewish resident of Saint John, New Brunswick was David Gabels who arrived with the Loyalists in 1783 after the American Revolutio. He established a butcher shop and bakery in the city. When he died in 1816 he was buried in what is known as the Loyalist Burial Grounds. The stone which had marked his burial site has since disappeared.

A permanent Jewish presence in the city dates from the arrival of Solomon and Alice Hart from London, England in 1858. They were followed by other English Jewish families with whom they were either related and inter-married, including the Green and Isaacs families.

The Jewish community grew with the arrival of Jews from Eastern Europe who came to Saint John to escape persecution and poverty in their homelands and to re-establish themselves and their families in a country which offered more opportunities.

The growth of the Jewish community led to the creation of two synagogues. The Ahavith Achim (Brotherly Love) Synagogue was dedicated in January 1899. Initially the congregation was drawn from the first wave of immigrants, but after 1906 most of the congregants were Eastern Europeans. The Hazen Avenue Synagogue was established in 1906 in the wake of a social and economic split between the Western and Eastern European Jews. Most of the more assimilated and wealthy members of the community made up the congregation who purchased a former Unitarian Church.

An elaborate Holy Ark was constructed for this building which was transferred to a third synagogue in 1918. This building was sold to the local school board and demolished in the 1930s.

The Shaarei Zedek (Gates of Righteousness) Synagogue was formed in 1918 when the earlier congregations set aside their differences and purchased the former Calvin Church which had been built in the 1860s. At the time the building was dedicated in March 1919 there were 200 male members and perhaps more than 1500 members through the “Golden Years” of the community’s history. The building included a large sanctuary with a balcony reserved for female members until the early 1960s and a large social hall. The congregation moved from the Orthodox to the Conservative affiliation in 1960 and by the late 1990s had become egalitarian. At the end of 2008 the building became the property of the City of Saint John and the congregation relocated to a building built originally as a private home and used more recently as a funeral home. This building is more suited to the Congregation’s current needs and also provides space for the Saint John Jewish Historical Museum.

With the death of a child in 1873, Louis Green purchased land which became known as the Green-Hart Cemetery. Only members of the Hart, Green and Isaacs families and their direct descendants are buried within these plots.

Neighbouring parcels of land were purchased over the years to establish other cemeteries for the adherents of the Ahavith Achim, Hazen Avenue and Shaarei Zedek Synagogues and for small family plots. The family plots are reserved for members of the Boyaner, Gordon, Meltzer, Levine and Garson families. Collectively all of the lots are known as the Shaarei Zedek Cemetery.

The cemetery grounds are maintained by the staff of the adjacent Fernhill Cemetery (lawn care, snow plowing of the roadway, opening and closing of graves, repair of stones as needed). Records of burials are also kept in the Fernhill office.

In 1950, a chapel was dedicated in the cemetery to the mothers of film producer, Louis B. Mayer and corporate giant, Nathan Cummings and his brother Max Cummings. Sarah Mayer and Elizabeth Komiensky are buried in the cemetery. This chapel may have been for some funeral services, but in more recent years the building has been used only rarely.

A complete database of interments in the cemetery has been compiled by the Jewish Museum staff. This information includes a detailed map of burial sites (may be available for reproduction on request), a database (Microsoft Excel file), obituaries where published in the Saint John newspapers (Microsoft Word files) and photographs of all gravestones (jpeg files).

The database includes a wide range of information including dates of birth, death and burial, names of parents, spouses, siblings and children and references to related material for obituaries, gravestones and memorial plaques in the Shaarei Zedek Synagogue.

The Shaarei Zedek Cemetery Database is also available in the archives of the Saint John Jewish Historical Museum and is updated as needed by Museum staff. The archives may also have additional information of the individuals recorded in the database.

Database compiled Summer 1998 by Tristan Stewart-Robertson, Jocelyn Abrahamsen, and April Abrahamsen.

Obituaries researched by student staff :

1998 - Tristan Stewart-Robertson, Jocelyn Abrahamsen, and April Abrahamsen
1999 - Jennifer Boucher, Robyn White
2001 - Meaghan Simonds, Tim Findlater
2002 - Alex Hannah
2003 - Lori Lawton, Mary Ann Murphy
2004 - Elizabeth Griffin