Agreement is not legally enforceable. Jewish cemetery (archives)
Photo: Reuters
Agreement reached on NJ Jewish burials
Cemeteries agree to try to allow off-hour burials, including on Sundays and secular holidays
Cemetery operators, rabbis and lawmakers have signed an agreement on several aspects of a years-long dispute surrounding burials in New Jersey's largest Jewish cemeteries.
The cemeteries have agreed to try to allow off-hour burials, including on Sundays and secular holidays.
Jewish Identity
Yaakov Lappin
Group arrives in Tel Aviv to begin emotional tour; for a third of them, visit is a first
The rabbis say such limitations affect Jews more because of religious restrictions on certain burial days and an obligation to bury people within 24 hours after death.
The agreement does not address complaints about higher prices.
Cemetery owners say they incur added costs for off-schedule burials, including unionized worker overtime.
The agreement was announced by Senator Loretta Weinberg, Assemblyman Gary Schaer, the North Jersey Board of Rabbis and three of the state's largest Jewish cemeteries.
Weinberg says she'll continue to push related legislation. The agreement is not legally enforceable.
