Victoria Jewish Cemetery
Victoria Jewish Cemetery
Victoria Jewish cemetery

Victoria's Jewish cemetery is located on Cedar Hill Road near Hillside Avenue. It was consecrated in 1859, making it the oldest Jewish Cemetery in western Canada. The first burial took place in 1861. That first interment was a Freemason named Morris Price, a merchant who was murdered in 1861 in his store in Cayoosh, a settlement near the present town of Lillooet in the B.C. interior. Since this was the nearest Jewish cemetery to Cayoosh at that time, Brother Price's body was transported to Victoria for burial. Victoria Lodge, No. 1085 struck a committee to receive Brother Price's body and prepare it for burial. The Freemasons also took charge of Brother Price's funeral.

Freemasonry has a close, amicable and long-standing relationship with Victoria's Jewish community. Victoria's second Mayor, Lumley Franklin, a leading figure in early Victoria's Jewish community, was a charter member of Victoria's first Masonic Lodge, Victoria Lodge, No. 1085, in 1858. On 2 June 1863, Victoria Freemasons laid the cornerstone of the city's Temple Beth-Emanuel, the oldest synagogue in western Canada. Wor. Brother Lumley Franklin was instrumental in financing and building this synagogue.

On 2 June 2013, on the 150th anniversary of the original cornerstone ceremony, the Grand Master, M.W. Brother J. Murray Webster, presided over a re-enactment of the 1863 ceremony before an audience consisting of members of Congregation Beth Emanu-el, approximately 400 Freemasons, the Mayor of Victoria, Israel's Ambassador to Canada and many other interested spectators.

Here is a list of the Freemasons we know to be buried in the Victoria Jewish Cemetery (note: this list may not be complete):

Name
Death Date
Lodge
David Berman
Harry Burns
Joshua Philip Davies
1903
Vancouver & Quadra #2
Judah Philip Davies
20 September 1879
Rabbi Elias Friedlander
Isadore Lancaster
Gustav Leiser
1896
Vancouver & Quadra #2
Max Leiser
Vancouver & Quadra #2
Simon Leiser
May 1917
Vancouver & Quadra #2
Lewis Levy
Lewis Lewis
1904
Vancouver & Quadra #2
Max Harvey Macara
David Oppenheimer
Vancouver & Quadra #2
Morris Price
February 1861
Judge Samuel Davies Schultz
1917
Marcus Wolfe, P.G.M.
November 1896
Ashlar #3, Nanaimo

-Vancouver Island Masonic History Project-

Victoria Jewish Cemetery

- Masonic Interments -

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Temple Lodge, No. 33, Home Page

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Vancouver Island Masonic History Project Index Page

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Vancouver Island Masonic History Project- Greater Victoria Index Page

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Greater Victoria Cemeteries - Masonic Interments

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Congregation Emanu-El, Victoria, B.C.

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Victoria Jewish Cemetery