History

The Jewish Burial Association of Madison (JBAM) was established because of growing concern that there would be a shortage of Jewish burial plots in the Madison area. Jewish burials usually took place in a section of Forest Hills Cemetery, a municipally-owned cemetery that had met the Jewish community’s burial needs since the late 1800’s. In 2009, after three years of planning, incorporation as an IRS 501(c)(3) not-for-profit entity, and with financial assistance from the Madison Chevra Kadisha, JBAM purchased 100 graves in the northeast corner of the Sunset Memory Gardens cemetery (7302 Mineral Point Road) to establish Beit Olamim as a Jewish cemetery in Madison, Wisconsin.