Israel's National Insurance Institute foots the bill for burying Israeli residents and their plot in the cemetery. However, free is not exactly free, as the country's burial societies (Hevrot Kadishot) have exploited a legal loophole to charge astronomical prices.
By law, the burial societies can charge modest fees to transport the body of the newly deceased outside of regular working hours or to a neighboring city, supply a minyan for the funeral (up to NIS 2,000), shrouds, paying a doctor to determine death in the private home (NIS 700), and storing a body for more than 24 hours (NIS 355 per day). All these tariffs are set by the government and amount to small change compared with charges for a family that wants to bury a loved one in a specific cemetery or part of the cemetery.
When a person dies relatives must make a decision within a few hours, bearing in mind that Jewish tradition dictates that funerals should take place within 24 hours and even on the same day in Jerusalem. If the deceased has already reserved a particular plot, then he has saved his immediate relatives, not only the need to make exhausting arrangements, but also about one third of the price of any preferred grave. According to a report by the Ministry of Religious Services, only 25%-30% of people do book a plot in advance.
The burial societies are only required to bury a person in the local cemetery. In recent years, especially in the big cities, space for cemeteries has become so limited that most new graves are in buildings with many floors or within walls or multiple graves for families. These graves in the "densely built" part of the cemeteries are free but those wanting to be buried in a more pastoral cemetery setting in traditional flat rows, or in a particular cemetery, must pay for the privilege. The problem is that the government has set no fees for these plots and the burial societies seem to be raking in the money. Paying for a plot in the Yarkon Cemetery in Greater Tel Aviv, for example, costs NIS 40,000, if not purchased ahead of time.
Avraham Menala of the Tel Aviv Burial Society said, "The government insists that we construct burial buildings with many floors and the costs are astronomical, three times more expensive than burying a person in the ground. We don't earn anything from the price of burial and we barely cover our development costs."
There are 1,250 cemeteries in Israel operated by 600 burial societies and other companies that received licenses from the Ministry of Religious Services to offer alternative options. Many of the older cemeteries in Israel are defined as closed such as Kiryat Shaul and Trumpledor in Tel Aviv, Shaarei Zedek and the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and Hof Hacarmel in Haifa. In fact there are a limited number of places still available in these cemeteries with high prices according to demand. Plots in Trumpledor or the Mount of Olives can cost as much as NIS 200,000. Just as in prime real estate demand from Diaspora Jews for the best burial spots pushes prices sky high. Middlemen make prices even higher.
All these prices do not of course include gravestones which can costs several thousand to tens of thousands of shekels.
There is also a flourishing business in Israel for alternative non-Orthodox Jewish cemeteries and cremations. Burial in a secular cemetery can cost NIS 12,000-30,000 per plot plus thousands more for the funeral ceremony.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 6, 2016
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