For immediate assistance with funeral planning or to inquire about purchasing plots at 1 of our 3 cemeteries, please contact our Funeral Coordinator, Margo Carr.

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mcarr@etzchayim.ca

or

(204) 589-6305

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Congregation Etz Chayim is the sole owner and operator responsible for three Jewish burial grounds and cemeteries - Rosh Pina Memorial Park, The Hebrew Sick Benefit Association Cemetery, and the B'nai Abraham Cemetery - all located in and around Winnipeg, Manitoba.  We are solely responsible for the standard of service and care that an individual or family experiences when planning a funeral service, attending a Jewish Burial, or visiting a loved one's gravesite in the sanctuary at Congregation Etz Chayim or at 1 of our 3 cemeteries. 

  Our clergy are present and involved with the funerals held at our three cemeteries to offer a consistent experience and our support when planning with Congregation Etz Chayim.  The presence of clergy at a Jewish funeral service is merely customary, and so in the case of our Funeral Policy, our clergy are present as an operational assurance rather than in a legally mandatory role under halacha. 

 

According to halacha, any capable member of the Jewish community who knows the traditional order of the service and prayers can officiate at a Jewish Funeral.

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It is for that reason that whenever a person or family would like to request another officiant of their choosing to co-officiate with our clergy, we welcome that wholeheartedly.  Often, this is another clergy person outside of our own, and this can also be a close relative, friend, or other individual(s) who have shaped a special relationship or offered significant support to the person or family who is now planning a service for their loved ones who have passed. 

 

Halacha does not dictate who may officiate a Jewish funeral service and instead provides the framework so that any Jewish person may officiate for another.

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We respect the deeply personal relationships that individuals and families form in their lives, and we believe that it is important to curate a meaningful Jewish funeral service that honours that life and those connections.  That is why we encourage families to include these close, personal individuals in their planning and welcome others to work with the family to prepare the eulogy and to have that deeply personal honour on behalf of the person who has passed.  We also welcome others to take part in the prayers and rituals.  Co-officiants can be paid or unpaid participants, and either way, our clergy will work collaboratively with the other officiant(s) who have been requested or hired to take part.  I will also note that when no clergy from Congregation Etz Chayim is available, we make that known and welcome a sole individual to officiate on behalf of the family to ensure we do not cause any unnecessary delay.  These arrangements are all made with the intention of providing the best level of care and support that we can to those in their time of loss, grief, and mourning. 

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Please note that when a person is a member-in-good-standing at another synagogue of their choosing and requests their chosen synagogue's clergy to officiate for them, that clergy person may officiate alone at any 1 of our 3 cemeteries.