Printer-friendly versionThe Willamette Valley Jewish Community Burial Society provides access to the Jewish section of the Waverly Cemetery in Albany. Members of the society are available to help pre-plan funerals or help with arrangements. The society supports bereaved families in keeping with their personal traditions and needs.
In accordance with guidelines established by the Rabbinical Assembly Commission on Law and Standards, the traditional funeral honors the deceased (met) with a simple, dignified burial. Our Burial Society follows these traditional burial procedures:
Traditional funerals also include:
A traditional funeral does not include any of the following:
The Willamette Valley Jewish Community Burial Society is an incorporated body with chapters in Salem and Corvallis. A Jewish cemetery was established in Albany in the 1870's, and in the 1920's turned over to the Masonic Lodge in Albany. An agreement with this Masonic Lodge confers exclusive responsibility for the Jewish section of the Waverly Cemetery, including sale of the burial plots, to the Willamette Valley Jewish Community Burial Society.
The Masonic Lodge retains ownership of the cemetery, and the trust it has established will provide perpetual care.
The Jewish section of the Waverly Cemetery is divided into two sections. One section is for Jews as defined according to Jewish Law (Halakhah). The other is for Jews by patrilineal descent and families who wish burial with non-Jewish spouses. No ashes will be interred in the halakhic section.
The Chevra Kaddisha is a group of volunteers within the Burial Society who provide services for the met and the mourners. They function without a fee for service for members of the Burial Society.
The Chevra Kaddisha is patterned after the Chevra Kavod Hamet (Society to honor to the dead) established by Congregation Adath Jeshurun, Minneapolis. It is described in detail in A Plain Pine Box by Rabbi Arnold M. Goodman. Congregation Neveh Shalom of Portland, has a similar Chevra, and it has been very helpful to our Burial Society.
It is important to understand that each individual family has the option of using all or part of the services offered to Burial Society members. Our society is ready to offer advice, comfort and services as needed. Both funeral homes in Corvallis (McHenry and DeMoss-Durdan) and in Albany (Fishers) have agreed to cooperate with our society. The prices for a simple burial with graveside services are comparable for the three homes unless the funeral has been pre-planned. Such pre-planning can be accomplished by joining the Oregon Memorial Association, thus ensuring a simple burial at a significantly reduced cost through DeMoss-Durdan. This reduced rate applies without transportation charges within 25 miles of Corvallis.
Prearrangements can be made during a person's lifetime by filling out an information form. Contact webmaven@beitam.org to obtain a form.
Hevra Kaddisha will help make all arrangements so that when a death occurs, the process described will be carried out according to the wishes of the individual.
The Burial Society will assist the family in making funeral arrangements and in purchasing a plot in the Waverly Jewish Cemetery. The Chevra Kaddisha will do any or all of the following as requested by the family of the met:
Direct cost of those items provided by the Burial Society, such as coffin, shrouds, and candle will be billed to the family. The Burial Society will provide a schedule of costs.
The current cost of a burial plot is $1000. Checks are made out to Masonic Cemetery Association.
The assignment of plots for the Jewish portion of the cemetery is done through the Willamette Valley Jewish Community Burial Society. You can contact the burial society through the Beit Am office.
There are two sections in the Jewish portion of the Waverly Jewish Cemetery. A small Orthodox or halachic section, and a larger liberal Jewish section. Only Jews as defined halachicly may be buried in the Orthodox section. In the non-halachic section, non-Jewish spouses or children, for instance, can be buried.
The Masonic Cemetery Association has asked that Memorial markers be flush with the ground. This both decreases vandalism and makes the maintenance of the cemetery much easier and less costly. The Burial Society is in full agreement with this requirement.
Since a Jewish burial is supposed to have nothing hindering the body from returning to the earth (in Israel no coffins are used at all), the Cemetery Association has agreed that all Jewish burials may have the bottom left off the cement liner of the grave. The cement liner is to keep the cemetery surface from collapsing. The Burial Society has decided that all the burials in both Jewish sections of the Waverly Jewish Cemetery will have the bottom of the liner left off.
In the Halachic section, there is a further restriction. The coffin must be halachically correct (no metal, all wood).
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