FUNERAL HOME CONTRACTS RENEWED

The Jewish Funeral Practices Committee of Greater Washington (JFPCGW) has renewed its contracts on behalf of area congregations [including Fabrangen] with Hines-Rinaldi Funeral Home in Silver Spring and Jefferson Funeral Chapter in Alexandria. The contract terms effective July 1, 2008, appear on our website at www.jewish-funerals.org.

Both companies have built facilities for the special needs of Jewish funerals. Jefferson has served us since 2000, and Hines-Rinaldi since 2002. Our congregations, generally, have told us that they are well satisfied.

The contract packages include a plain pine casket and services at a synagogue, graveside, or the funeral home chapel. The price of the basic package at Hines-Rinaldi will be $1712, and at Jefferson, $2054. The price increases reflect the federal cost of living increase for Baltimore-Washington, all items, which was 4.7%.

The Hines-Rinaldi package no longer includes a gravesite at their affiliated cemetery.

Our contracts provide the community with quality funerals that uphold Jewish values: honor and privacy of the deceased, simplicity and equality in death, protection of the bereaved from exploitation, and facilitation of the Jewish rituals that each congregation considers to be appropriate. Our contract prices are public, thus setting the standard for Jewish funeral prices in the area and benefiting even those who don't use our contracts. Use of our contracts since 1987 has saved the community more than 10 million dollars.

Over the years Tifereth Israel has aided Fabrangen in time of need by selling us funeral plots on a case-by-case need. We now have an informal Fabrangen section within Tifereth Israel's section of Mount Lebanon cemetery in Adelphi, Maryland.

For funeral and burial arrangements call Diane Tepfer at 202.232.1864 or Bob Rovinsky at 202.237.1036.
To arrange for Shiva services in the house of mourning call Anne-Marie Deutsch and Steve Feldman at 301.320.3402.

For specific information and learning about Jewish traditions, as well as related links check out JFPCGW's very rich site http://www.jewish-funerals.org. You may consult the entire contracts at http://www.jewish-funerals.org/contracthines.htm and http://www.jewish-funerals.org/contractjefferson.htm