Making Arrangements
Price Information
Our commitment at Sinai Memorial Chapel regarding charges and fees is to be as clear as possible. We want you to be confident that there will be no surprises and no confusion regarding fees associated with funerals and burials.
No one is turned away because of inability to pay.
We invite inquiries about fees at any time.
Our General Price List is available at all Sinai locations and can be forwarded upon request by phone, email, or standard mail. This price list is comprised of six primary sections:
- Basic Professional Service Fee: This fee covers the first meeting you have with a funeral director (“arrangement conference”), coordination of professional services, clergy, cemetery, and all parties involved in the preparation of the funeral or memorial service. It also covers the filing of legal documents and obtaining of necessary permits. This fee also covers a proportionate share of our taxes, insurance, maintenance, utilities, equipment, inventory, and administrative fees. Our staff is available 24 hours a day to assist your family in delivering the services covered by this fee.
Beyond what the basic service fee covers, some additional items or professional services might be requested; these will be explained and itemized at the arrangement conference. They fall into the following categories:
- Preparation and Care of Decedent: Our religious staff performs, without charge, the Jewish rituals of taharah and dressing the deceased in the traditional burial shroud (tachrichim). Other choices, which require additional fees, include the use of our temperature-controlled holding room, limited preparations for private viewing or embalming, and dressing for open-casket type services.
- Use of Facilities and Staff for Services: While Sinai performs taharah, dresses the deceased in tachrichim, and provides a traditional shomer (guard) to watch over the deceased, we also welcome other congregations to use our facilities to perform these rituals. We charge a fee only when Sinai provides a shomer.
The fees charged for funeral and memorial services are based on the choices that you make during the arrangement conference. Your choices include services held at Sinai, in your synagogue, in the cemetery chapel, or graveside.
- Transportation: Transportation-related fees will depend on the choices made at the arrangement conference. Sinai owns, operates, or coordinates all professional vehicles in the implementation of the services selected. These vehicles are used in the transfer of the decedent from the place of death to our mortuary, from the mortuary to the cemetery, and to transport family members on the day of the funeral and burial. Vehicles also may be used to transfer floral arrangements or personal items.
- Merchandise: Merchandise includes caskets and urns of various kinds as well as other items chosen at the arrangement conference. We provide a wide range of traditional wood caskets that comply with Jewish practices. We also provide a wide selection of non-traditional caskets made of wood, cloth-covered wood, and metal. Urn selections for families choosing cremation include wood, metal, bronze, and marble. Other merchandise selections could include register books and cards, floral tributes, and cemetery memorials and monuments.
- Alternative Selections: Alternative selections that families can make include immediate burial (where there is no funeral or memorial service, no witness, and no family present) or direct cremation (where there is no funeral or memorial service, and the body is brought directly to the crematory). If a family makes one of these choices, the fee is inclusive of the Basic Professional Service Fee. No other costs are incurred.
- Cash Advance Items:
Additional fees are charged for cash advance services and items that are purchased from outside firms and vendors by Sinai on your behalf, based on your personal wishes. We do this as an accommodation to the family, and we do not mark up any of these charges. These items may include all necessary permits and a selected number of certified death certificates, consulate and embassy fees (when applicable), clergy honorariums, musicians, floral arrangements, obituaries and newspaper notices, and transportation vendors outside of our normal service area, as needed. These fees may also include city, county, or state fees for coroner or medical examiners and cemetery fees.
Payment
We accept personal checks, American Express, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa.
The Cemetery and Funeral Bureau (CFB) is pleased to offer the Consumer Guide to Funeral and Cemetery Purchases (También está disponible en Español).