Louisville's original Jewish families were immigrants from Germany, most members of Reform congregation Adas Israel. There were some Polish families, most part of the congregation at Adas Jesurun. In the 1880s, more immigration occurred from Eastern Europe, including Russia and Lithuania. The existing congregations in Louisville were less traditional and, for that reason, as well as to retain their Eastern European culture, the Russian and Lithuanian Jews formed their own congregations. In 1877, B'nai Jacob began as an Orthodox congregation, holding services in a loft above a kosher butcher shop. By 1887, a second Orthodox congregation, Beth Hamedrash Hagodol, was in existence. In 1926, B'nai Jacob and Beth Hamedrash Hagodol merged into Keneseth Israel, which is now a Conservative congregation.

Four of the five Jewish cemeteries in Louisville are in what is basically a cemetery complex off Preston Highway. Traveling south from downtown on Preston, the first entry point would be The Temple Cemetery, the middle entryway leads to Keneseth Israel, and the last entry point off Preston is Adath Jeshurun (the entry to Anshei Sfard is off Locust Lane, around the corner). (Agudath Achim is across Preston Highway from the "cemetery complex").

At one time, there was a Hebrew Schardein Cemetery on Wathen Lane west of Seventh Street Road. Around 1934, that property was taken to build a distillery, and those interments were moved to Keneseth Israel Cemetery.There is a section in the back of Keneseth Israel Cemetery where several of the headstones which were saved from the old cemetery are located.

Entering off Preston, there is a long driveway leading to most areas of the cemetery.

There are three ways to become confused about Keneseth Israel:

1. Section Z is separate from the rest of Keneseth Israel. It is actually located directly behind Section C of Adath Jeshurun Cemetery. Adath Jeshurun's Section C ends at a concrete block building near the fence line, the corner of which is the demarcation line between Adath Jeshurun and Keneseth Israel's Section Z. From there back, it is Keneseth Israel. This section is not connected by the roadway to the rest of Keneseth Israel.

2. At the very back of the cemetery, directly behind Section E, is a section near the fence line with old headstones. This is not Keneseth Israel; it is Section 1 of Anshei Sfard.

3. The line of demarcation between Keneseth Israel and Anshei Sfard is a small pathway through the grass which separates Sections K and F of Keneseth Israel from Sections C and A of Anshei Sfard. It is very easy to believe that you are in one cemetery when you are actually in the other one. Once the cemeteries spread out in Sections D and C of Keneseth Israel and the back of Section A of Anshei Sfard it is, again, very difficult to determine in which cemetery you are located. Based on its position, you may think that a grave is in one cemetery when it is actually in the other. If you do not see someone in either cemetery's listing, please check the other cemetery.

(submitted by Ellen White)