The Agudat Achim Cemetery
The Agudat Achim Cemetery has become a beautiful place for our loved ones to find peace. The renovation project has been a labor of love, but we are not done! We need your support to maintain the integrity of our sacred place. Kindly consider contributing by clicking the link to Donate Now. Follow the Tribute drop-down to choose Cemetery Operations, Cemetery Improvements, or The Laura Scheinzeit Cemetery Beautification Fund. The Cemetery Committee thanks you for your legacy gift.
Anita Merims, long-term member of the Cemetery Committee, and former President of Agudat Achim, gives a tour of our main cemetery at a June 25th, 2023 fundraiser.
Former president of Congregation Agudat Achim and Chair of the Meditation Garden Committee, Don Steiner, summarizes the evolution of the meditation garden at a cemetery fundraiser on June 25, 2023.
Agudat Achim Cemetery Renovation Project
Our congregation celebrated the beautification and restoration of our Rotterdam cemetery in June of 2019. The Beautification and Restoration Committee and countless volunteers worked tirelessly over three years to oversee the demanding work and raise the more than half-million dollars needed to complete the project. The success of the campaign enabled the construction of the meditation garden, and the paving of the circle around it, the replacement of the front gate, the construction of new pillars, and garden-retaining walls, the replacement of the Central Avenue fence, and the construction of new posts, tree removal, the replacement of the eastern side fence including tree and vegetation removal that had obstructed the view of several tombstones, and the clearing of land for the establishment of an intermarriage section. Preserving the congregation’s cemetery is an ongoing effort, with other projects pending. The memorial garden was designed by Stracher Roth Gilmore Architects and built by Emco Construction.
Memorial Garden at the Agudat Achim Cemetery
Laura Scheinzeit Memorial Garden, adorning the cemetery gates
Cemetery Directions
The cemetery is located at the end of Schermerhorn Street in Rotterdam.
From Niskayuna and parts east: Take Route 7 West (also called Troy-Schenectady Road, also called Crosstown Expressway) to its junction with Interstate 890. Do not get on I-890, but continue on the same road, which is called Chrisler Avenue. Go under an overpass and take your next right onto Chapel Avenue. Take it until it ends, turn left, and take your first right onto Schermerhorn Street.
From Schenectady and parts west: Get on Route 146 by the most convenient method. Follow Route 146 until you reach the section with the name Hamburg Street, which is between Route 5 (State Street) on the north and Route 7 (Curry Road) on the south. If you are traveling from the north, Schermerhorn Street is the seventh left turn after the intersection with Altamont Avenue; the preceding street is Chism Street. If you are traveling from the south, Schermerhorn Street is the second right after the overpass that takes you over Chrisler Avenue; the preceding street is called Central Avenue (but is not the same road as Central Avenue, Route 5, in Colonie).
For directions to the cemetery from other areas, please click here.
Mt. Stuart Road at Schermerhorn Street, Rotterdam, NY.
Agudat Achim Burial Records Spreadsheet
Searching for Agudat Achim Cemetery Burial Records Online
Go to: http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Cemetery/
Directions for using the jewishgen.org website
– At the upper right, click or mouse over Login to JewishGen. If you don’t have a login yet, it will give you an option to register.
– You will get a banner greeting screen; click continue.
– The search screen has dropdown menus on the left where you can enter surnames, given names, parents’ names, town names, Hebrew names, etc. Note that the second column of dropdown menus allows you to specify whether you are doing an exact match, a partial match, or a “sounds like.” Enter the information you have in the right-hand text entry area.
– Choose Rotterdam for the Town and USA-New York for the geographical region. Otherwise, you will search the entire database of cemeteries from all over the world.
– Click the Search JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry button.
– View your matches and click on List 4 records to see them.
– To get more information on a particular person, click View Full Burial Record for that name.
– View findings. If you want more information on the cemetery itself, including a link to a birds-eye view map showing the sections, click the link for Agudat Achim Cemetery, Rotterdam, NY USA.
You may also look through our cemetery’s Find a Grave page. Leave a stone or a Star of David to remember a loved one from anywhere in the world.