Kinneret Cemetery


Shaded and serene, this luxuriantly leafy lakeside cemetery, established in 1911, is the final resting place of socialist Zionist pioneers such as Berl Katznelson (1887–1944), who lived at the centre of a celebrated love triangle (his grave is flanked by those of his first and second wives), and Shmuel Yavnieli (1884–1961), who worked to bring Yemenite Jews to Israel. It is 9km south of Tiberias and 300m south of Kinneret Junction.

Also buried here is the Hebrew poet Rachel (Rachel Bluwstein; 1890–1931). Books of her hugely popular poems, many of which have been set to music, can be found in a stainless-steel container attached to her grave. She appears on the Bank of Israel's 20NIS banknote.

In the spring of 1917, the Ottomans expelled the entire Jewish population of Tel Aviv and Jaffa. Of the 2000 refugees who fled to the Galilee, 430 died and 10 are buried here, commemorated by 10 anonymous gravestones and a stone plaque, erected in 2003, bearing their long-lost names.


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