Oheb Shalom Cemetery has served the Jewish community since 1900, offering a sacred place of remembrance and peace. Our mission as a nonprofit 501(c)(13) organization is to preserve tradition while supporting families with perpetual care, compassionate guidance, and tools to honor loved ones with respect. For more than a century, we have remained dedicated to upholding the values of dignity, continuity, and community. Each section of our grounds reflects the history and strength of Jewish heritage in New Jersey, providing families a serene space to reflect and remember. Our work extends beyond maintaining the cemetery — it is about fostering connection, ensuring every resting place is cared for, and assisting future generations in carrying forward their family legacies with honor.
The mission of the Oheb Shalom Cemetery Association (OSCA) is to provide the best possible continuing care to the final resting place of religious persons and their families. We do this in a sympathetic and consoling manner in our dealings with survivors, families, and friends. We abide by all aspects of the Conservative religious burial process, tradition, and law. We treat all vendors and service providers in a fair and honest manner. We will manage, support, and preserve our resources to carry out this mission.
At the close of the 19th century, a group of congregants from Oheb Shalom, then located on Prince Street in Newark, NJ, led by Emanuel Abeles, Isidore Grand and Meyer Kussy, decided to acquire land to develop a Conservative Jewish cemetery. They settled on a three-acre parcel in Hillside, NJ. They organized a board. Manny Abeles was elected chairman. He divided the land into available plots, developed a fee arrangement including perpetual care, and planned for a chapel house that would accommodate funerals and house a groundskeeper and his family on the second floor. The cornerstone for the chapel house was laid in 1900, plots were sold, and Oheb Shalom Cemetery has been in continuous operation since that time.
The Cemetery is still operated as an independent corporation, owned by the plotholders and managed by the Oheb Shalom Cemetery Association (OSCA). In total, there are about 3,000 plots of which 1,200 are occupied. Another 100 plots are sold and reserved. The balance is for sale. The Cemetery is cared for by Sanford B. Epstein Inc. on behalf of the OSCA.