Rabbi Pinchas Mordechai Teitz (1908–1995) was a monumental 20th-century American Orthodox rabbi, broadcaster, and communal pioneer who founded the thriving Jewish community and the Jewish Educational Center (JEC) in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

While his lifetime was defined by building American Orthodoxy and engaging in heroic underground diplomatic efforts to preserve Jewish life behind the Soviet Iron Curtain, his final resting place connects him directly to the heart of the Jewish world.

Burial Location: Har HaZeitim (Mount of Olives)

Following his passing on December 26, 1995, at the age of 87, Rabbi Teitz's body was flown to Israel for interment. He is buried in the Har HaZeitim (Mount of Olives) Cemetery in Jerusalem.

Har HaZeitim is the oldest and most sacred continuously used Jewish cemetery in the world, dating back over 3,000 years. Being buried there holds deep spiritual significance in Jewish tradition, as it is biblically prophesied to be the site where the resurrection of the dead will begin in the Messianic era.

A Poignant Historical Irony

There is a profound, poetic historical irony regarding the permanence and preservation of Rabbi Teitz’s own grave. During his life, Rabbi Teitz was one of the world's leading advocates for the preservation of desecrated Jewish cemeteries in Europe and the Soviet Union.

• The Vilna Gaon: Rabbi Teitz famously utilized his diplomatic contacts with Soviet authorities to successfully intervene and arrange the peaceful reinterment of the remains of the Vilna Gaon (Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna) and other Torah giants when the Soviet government threatened to raze the historic Jewish cemetery of Vilna to build a sports stadium.

• Rebbe Nachman of Breslov: In 1979, when Soviet authorities planned to demolish the neighborhood surrounding the gravesite of the Hasidic master Rebbe Nachman in Uman, Ukraine, the Lubavitcher Rebbe (Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson) explicitly directed activists to "Contact Rabbi Pinchas Teitz." Operating with the backing of the Carter Administration, Rabbi Teitz traveled to the USSR and successfully negotiated the preservation of Rebbe Nachman's mausoleum.

• The Baal Shem Tov: He similarly raised funds and leveraged his political relationships to restore monuments and clear overgrowth from the resting places of the Baal Shem Tov (founder of Hasidism) and other sages in Medzhybizh.

Because he spent decades ensuring that the final resting places of Jewish history's greatest scholars were protected from destruction, his own grave on the slopes of Har HaZeitim is viewed by many visitors and students as a place of immense historical gratitude.

Visiting the Kever (Grave)

The grave (kever) of Rabbi Teitz features a traditional Ashkenazi vertical headstone with a detailed Hebrew inscription outlining his lineage, his dedication to teaching Torah, and his decades of service as the leader of the Elizabeth, New Jersey community.

It is routinely visited by his former students from the Jewish Educational Center, family members, and those traveling to Jerusalem to pray at the graves of modern and historic Torah luminaries.