Cincinnati's Jewish Cemeteries to be Highlighted in Episode of PBS' World's Greatest Cemeteries

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Photo: facebook.com/Jewish Cemeteries of Cincinnati

Chestnut Street Cemetery is Cincinnati's first Jewish burial ground.

Several of Cincinnati’s Jewish cemeteries and the stories that lie within them will be highlighted in an upcoming episode of PBS series World’s Greatest Cemeteries.

According to a press release from the organization Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati, World’s Greatest Cemeteries producer and host Roberto Mighty and videographer Ed Koziarski spent two days in Cincinnati last June filming for the episode and interviewing Jewish community members about the stories of those buried in these cemeteries. While the show usually covers more famous cemeteries, Mighty said highlighting these smaller cemeteries sends an important message.

“Perhaps World’s Greatest Cemeteries could do a small public service by simply including minorities and minority cemeteries, discussing their histories, and modeling how these people are as human as everybody else. And here in America, as American as anybody else,” Mighty said in the release.

The episode begins and ends with Cincinnati’s first Jewish burial ground, the Chestnut Street Cemetery in Downtown Cincinnati, where Mighty highlights the story of Joseph Jonas, Cincinnati’s first Jewish settler who helped establish Chestnut Street Cemetery and Kehal Kodesh B’nai Israel, later Rockdale Temple. Viewers also will learn more about local Jewish Civil Rights leaders, business owners, professors and others who positively impacted the community and who are buried throughout Cincinnati.

The episode will be available for free online for two months starting Sunday, Feb. 19. Local PBS station CET does not carry the series in its entirety, but will air the episode one time only on April 16 at 3:30 p.m.

Learn more about Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati here.