A Sampling of Plenary Sessions

Developing a Cooperative Relationship Between Your Cemetery and Your Chevra Kadisha. How do you develop an integrated continuum of care at the end of life to create organizational efficiency, increase leadership knowledge, and bring comfort to the mourners. Chevra Kadisha members are naturals for cemetery boards. Cemeteries can help promote tahara and tachrichim. Together they can work to educate the Jewish community about traditional practices, especially ground burial.

Greening Tahara, Funerals and Burial. Updates and insights from Jewish environmentalists, the first Jewish Natural Burial Cemetery, and the Green Burial Council. How can we move towards greener practices? How do we talk about our successes? How will it impact the cremation trend? 

Preparing For Shiva. How do we encourage families and ourselves to prepare to interact around funeral and burial planning and logistics? What happens when non-traditional families spend significant time together?  How do we make decisions? How do we get along?

Engaging Young Jews in the End of Life Continuum.

Cremation vs Burial – Moving From Talking to Action. How do we engage diverse communities about the Jewish way of burial? What is the responsibility of rabbis and educators? How do we educate unaffiliated Jews? Is there a way to change the cost differential? Is there a role for communal funds? How do we address the perception that cremation is green? What are the ethical issues facing the Chaplain, the Chevra Kadisha and the Jewish Cemetery? How do we counsel families where the person dying wants cremation? Should we do a tahara if there is going to be a cremation? Should we allow cremated remains be buried in a Jewish cemetery? How do we handle families where there is a split among the relatives regarding cremation?

Chevra Kadisha as a Movement. At our 10th conference, we take a critical look at where we’ve come from, and where we’re going. How have our conferences, web site, and Gamliel Institute Leadership Training changed the face of the Chevra Kadisha and the Jewish Community?