טעלז — בית החיים

Telz — what is left of the bais hachaim

Telšiai (Telz) · טעלז

Navigate to this beis hachaim →

Visitor experience

Practical notes from visitors — access, directions, and the condition of the site.

How to get there

Jewish cemetery, Telšiai, Telšiai County, Lithuania — no street address is published here; confirm the entrance locally

Navigate →Show on map →

The exact grave coordinates are not confirmed yet — go by the address and ask locally. We don't publish a coordinate we haven't checked.

1.Read this before you book. The bais hachaim covered about 2.17 hectares; most of it was destroyed in 1987. Roughly 0.43 hectares survives — under a fifth of the original ground — and that fragment was fenced and put on the Lithuanian Cultural Heritage List in 1995.
2.Reb Yosef Yehuda Leib Bloch's kever is among the stones that survive, and can still be found. Many others cannot: if you are coming for a particular family matzeivah, the odds are against it still standing, and it is worth asking Maceva or the Lithuanian Jewish Community what is documented before you travel.
3.The town is a long way from anywhere — roughly two hours by road from Klaipėda and the best part of four from Vilnius. Plan the day around the drive, not around the visit.

Live travel advisories are unavailable right now — check the State Department advisory page directly before you travel.

Closest airports

The three nearest airports with scheduled service — tap for exact driving or transit time.

Kaunas (KUN)Kaunas International· 162 km · 101 mi straight-line· regional
🚗 By car →🚆 Public transit →
Vilnius (VNO)Vilnius International· 244 km · 151 mi straight-line· regional
🚗 By car →🚆 Public transit →
Gdańsk (GDN)Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa· 299 km · 186 mi straight-line· regional
🚗 By car →🚆 Public transit →

Who is buried here

Known kevarim

רבי יוסף יהודה לייב בלאָך מטעלז

Rabbi Yosef Yehuda Leib Bloch of Telz

The Telzer rosh yeshiva who built the derech

שיעורי דעת

Took the Telzer yeshiva after Reb Eliezer Gordon and led it until his petirah on 10 November 1929, building the mussar-and-lomdus derech the yeshiva carried to Cleveland after the churban.

Verification and source

No public access contact has been verified for this cemetery yet.

Read the cemetery source →