# Jewish cemetaries? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 21, 2002, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-cemetaries/133291 "2002-10-21T21:14:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LateComer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@LateComer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LateComer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-cemetaries/133291/1 "2002-10-21T21:14:31Z")
Some of you may have seen HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” last night. One of the stories was about Larry’s mother’s burial. She was buried in a Jewish cemetary and was moved to the “special” section for murderers and suicides because she had a tattoo on her ass. Are Jewish cemetaries really this strict or was this just a storytelling device? Hell, I didn’t even know that Jews had such a concept as “consecrated ground.” ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-cemetaries/133291/2 "2002-10-21T21:46:53Z")
Yes, I believe this is true. Tatoos prevent you from being buried in a Jewish cemetary, but I’m sure there are exceptions made, such as for concentration camp survivors. I don’t know if they’d move someone once buried, but I’m sure some cemetaries might. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-cemetaries/133291/3 "2002-10-21T22:39:32Z")
You know, if you don’t know the answer to a General Question, you should avoid speculating, especially when your answer is wrong. **Telemark** , there is no halachic authority that forbids a person with a tattoo from being buried in a Jewish cemetery. There is a general rule of _ain kovrim tzaddik etzel rasha_, forbidding the burial of a wicked person next to a righteous person, but no rabbinic authority has interpreted this to exclude a person who is tattooed. It is true that the Torah forbids tattoos. But like other sins, its commission during life does not exclude the sinner from a Jewish burial. - Rick ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-cemetaries/133291/4 "2002-10-22T02:16:21Z")
I think I read something like that when Geraldo mentioned having a tattoo and his mother told him he wouldn’t be allowed to be buried in a Jewish cemetary. (He has a Star of David on his hand). ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-cemetaries/133291/5 "2002-10-22T02:33:59Z")
Well, it is a common myth then, mentioned in many places. I found this [http://www.faqs.org/faqs/judaism/FAQ/05-Worship/section-53.html](http://www.faqs.org/faqs/judaism/FAQ/05-Worship/section-53.html) which mentions that some cemetaries and mortuaries won’t officiate for a person with a tatoo, and to ask at the individual establishment. But you are correct, it doesn’t say that you will be refused burial. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-cemetaries/133291/6 "2002-10-22T03:09:04Z")
Ironically, the whole premise of _Curb Your Enthusiasm_ is “what will come back and bite me in the ass this time?” Every episode features Larry making some casual or thoughtless remark/gesture and later having it lead to someone screaming oodles of profanity at him. I see in this episode, they finally moved it from the metaphorical to the literal.