HAMPTON, Va. — At the Jewish Cemetery of the Virginia Peninsula, the past, present and future are all intertwined.
"We have to honor our responsibility to make a proper place for the burial of Jewish people, and their spouses, and their children," said Buddy David, president of the foundation who oversees the cemetery.
He said the cemetery was created in 1895 to meet a need within the Jewish community at the time: a place to bury their loved ones.
"The Jews in the 1800s, they had to have their own burial place because they weren't welcome anyplace else. And even in this cemetery, we have evolved where the rules used to be if you were not Jewish you couldn't be buried here, that's not the rule now," David said.
Ken Murov, who helps handles burials at the cemetery, explained that the cemetery used to be split into two sides: one was Orthodox and the other was conservative.
"It's been around since the 19th century and it's had different forms and shapes," Murov said.
It was called both the Hebrew Cemetery and the Rosenbaum Cemetery until they combined in the late 1990s.
"My great-grandfather arrived in the United States around 1882. [His family] was one of the first Jewish families to settle here on the Peninsula," Neal Rosenbaum, namesake of the Rosenbaum Cemetery said.
He said the cemetery makes him feel connected to his family.
"You can't put any value on the name that was left to you by your ancestors. It [has] more value than anything," he said.
Murov said the cemetery is significant because it reflects values important in the Jewish faith: honor, respect and ritual.
"Judaism is about a path, and it's about a path from birth to death," Murov said. "You're buried in a wooden casket, no metal, and the idea of dust to dust that there's some contact with the earth of the casket."
Over a century after its creation, the cemetery is still frequented by people paying respects to their loved ones. Richard Gordon, who also assists with burials, said eventually he will be buried in the cemetery too.
"We have my mother and my father on this side, my aunt and uncle on the other side, so it's a two-deep gravesite, and they're amongst their friends, people that they lived with and partied with and did business with, they're all here," he said.
The cemetery is important to their legacy, and Rosenbaum said the future of this hallowed ground remains just that.
"What's the future? Just to live great lives, be healthy, raise your families, be successful in your careers," he said. "And then, ultimately, prepare for what will be the fate for all of us."
