Mayfield Cemetery

This graveyard is so well maintained it is hard to find anything interesting outside. Grass is kept perfect. I did not take a foot by foot walk, but not one stone was sunken, crooked, broken or eccentric. Mostly germanic names are on the stones.

It is a Jewish cemetery (1887), bordering Lake View Cemetery. It is now in Cleveland Heights (1901). It is reserved for the two oldest Reform congregations of Cleveland, Ohio.

electric brass menorah

They have a community mausoleum that is built like a temple. It has beautiful bronze doors, stained glass, brass rails and details, and gleaming marble. In the rotunda services are conducted.



The building has twin date stones, an anno Domini 1930, and a Jewish date from creation 5690.



Now, most people know congregations are led by rabbis, but a rabbi is a teacher and not a priest. Those in the Aaronic line often have a surname similar to 'Kohen'. Here incised on the stone is the priestly blessing, in the form of the letter 'shin' (ש), the initial letter of El Shaddai (a name of God). The actor, Leonard Nimoy, used this as the Vulcan salute.