The Process

Menuhat Olam, gives Netanya and Sharon residents the opportunity to be buried in a manner of their choice according to their worldview.

What is alternative burial?

A civil burial ceremony will include anything the deceased’s family wishes. It may be held according to instructions left by the deceased. The  ceremony may also include religious elements. Some even ask for an entirely religious ceremony as in orthodox cemeteries. The body preparation for burial may be conducted in any form, including a ritual Jewish cleansing (Tahara). In a Jewish religious burial the body is put in shrouds with no coffin. An alternative burial includes the choice of a coffin. With the assistance of companies specializing in producing alternative funerals, we offer a choice of coffins, from simple and dignified to the most adorned.

An alternative burial ceremony will include anything the family wishes for. The deceased often leave behind instructions of how they wish the ceremony to be held. The advantages offered by an alternative burial are clear: a unique ceremony in accordance with the deceased and his family’s worldview, the choice of burial in a coffin, a beautiful burial site which is maintained regularly by the cemetery’s management. While the price of an alternative burial outweighs the expenses in an Orthodox cemetery, it is still not out of reach for most of us and in some alternative cemeteries it is even provided for free, in its basic versions, to eligible residents. The exact cost is determined, of course, depending on the chosen cemetery and the sum needed to produce the chosen ceremony.

Menuhat Olam was established in 2014 for the purpose of establishing and operating a civil cemetery in Netanya. Menuhat Olam provides an accessible, convenient and respectful solution to all residents of Netanya and the surrounding communities who wish to conduct a civil burial according to their worldview, or a Jewish Orthodox burial with a different standard, or for those who need it because they can not be buried, or bury their loved ones, in Orthodox Jewish cemeteries.

The need for alternative burial in Netanya and the Sharon communities

Netanya and the surrounding communities, including Kadima–Zoran, Tel Mond, Even-Yehuda, Pardesiya and Kfar Yona, are populated by more than a quarter million people holding a wide range of civil and religious worldviews coming from a wide variety of countries. For example, over the years tens of thousands of Russian-speaking residents came to live in Netanya, some of which are defined as being of “unknown faith” and some as non-Jews, who experience difficulty in obtaining burial plots in Orthodox cemeteries. In the absence of civil cemeteries, residents and their families who wish to be buried alongside their relatives, do not receive burial services in the city and are forced to move to other cities, in order to be buried or to bury their loved ones in remote alternative cemeteries, away from their Netanya homes.

In recent years the Sharon region received thousands of new immigrants from France and other European countries, who are accustomed to the common burial services in Europe in general and France in particular, services which may be obtained at “Menuhat Olam”. The Sharon communities are also populated by people who, due to their religious and civil world-view, are interested in burial which is not the traditional-style Orthodox burial, but seek to be buried in a cemetery which, by its nature, allows for a burial in accordance with the deceased’s beliefs (for example, burial in a coffin). So far, some of the families of deceased who are labeled as “faithless” or non-Jews, as well as deceased with an unorthodox religious and civil philosophy, encountered difficulties such as a burial which does not suit their worldview and beliefs and sometimes even being denied burial services in orthodox cemeteries which are subject to the rules of Jewish law.

“Menuhat Olam” – provides accessible, respectful solutions, for people interested in a civil burial according to their worldview, or for people who are in need of such service since they can’t be buried, or cannot bury, in Orthodox cemeteries.