Our Contracts Explained
JFPCGW has contracted with two local funeral homes to offer our community an affordable funeral package. This package was designed to provide for a traditional, simplified, and dignified Jewish funeral, which should be acceptable to Jews of all denominations.
Please look at the contracts with both Hines Rinaldi (Silver Spring, MD) and Cunningham Turch (Alexandria, VA) to see the current year’s basic contract prices and the details of the services included in that price. The contract price is significantly less than the prices charged by most other Washington area funeral homes, and which are available for all Jewish funerals, whether or not the decedent is affiliated with a synagogue or temple.
Funeral services offered under these contracts include in most instances:
Picking up the body at the place of death and transporting it to the funeral home.
Collecting all information necessary for the death certificate and for the issuance of a burial permit.
Refrigerating the body and preparing it for ritual washing (tahara) if requested, and cleaning, dressing and casketing the body if there is no tahara. Click here to learn more about tahara.
An all wood pine casket with handles.
Having a dedicated room available for ritual guarding (shmira) if requested. Click here to learn more about shmira.
Transporting the body for the funeral to a synagogue or other venue, and then to the cemetery, and assisting at the funeral service.
Handling all normal paperwork, including help in preparing a death notice for newspaper publication, social security, and veterans claims.
Providing the family with a guest register, a shiva candle and a set of 50 acknowledgement cards.
These services do not include those provided by the cemetery, nor does the contract price cover any cemetery costs. A list of Jewish cemeteries in the Washington area can be found here.
Certain charges are not covered by the contract price, including the cost of publishing a newspaper death notice, the rental charge for limousines to carry family members to the funeral, and any charges associated with transporting the body to or from the Washington area from another location. Details can be found in the contracts. The funeral home will assist with all of these activities.
Both funeral homes also have a chapel where funeral services can be held, as described in the individual contracts. The funeral homes will also help you find a rabbi to conduct services (rabbi’s services are not included in the price) if the family does not already have a rabbi, and will help the family make arrangements for a cemetery plot if the family does not already have a plot. The funeral home will coordinate the timing of the funeral with the family, the cemetery, and the rabbi or synagogue.
For further guidance please contact Art Hessel, JFPCGW president, at 202-569-4289 or via email.