JEWISH FUNERAL PRACTICES COMMITTEE OF GREATER WASHINGTON,
INC
[The following agreement is a composite of the original
contract and subsequent amendments and extensions.]
AGREEMENT BETWEEN JFPCGW AND
This contract is made
between the Jewish Funeral Practices Committee of Greater Washington, Inc.
"JFPCGW," and Jefferson Funeral Chapel Inc., with premises at
FD understands that JFPCGW’s primary purpose is to permit and encourage
congregations to honor their dead by taking the lead in ritual activities and
in protecting and comforting the mourners, and to follow the Jewish values of
quick burial, and simplicity and equality in death. FD agrees to cooperate to
further those purposes.
The Funeral Director agrees
to provide any Jewish congregation or its members, or family members of its
members, a funeral which includes the services and merchandise listed below.
Except as indicated below, the price will be $1,962. FD may also add any
increase in the wholesale price of the casket if it is purchased, and used in
the funeral, during the second year.
1. Removal of the body
from the place of death, or another place, within 40 miles of the Washington
Beltway.
2. Securing a signed copy
of the physician’s death certificate at the place of death and at the time of
removal. If the death certificate is not ready there and then, $80 will be
charged for obtaining the death certificate later.
3. Refrigeration as
required.
4. An all-wood pine
rectangular casket, of appropriate size for the particular deceased, as
mutually agreed between the Committee and the FD.
5. Use of the FD’s
premises, 24 hours per day, including Sundays, for ritual washing (tahara) and
watching (shmira) of the body and lounge facilities
for the people involved. Ritual washing includes cleaning the body and stopping
bleeding, dressing the body in a shroud set, placing it into the casket, and
closing the casket. FD will provide all necessary supplies for the ritual
washing, including muslin shroud sets, Israeli earth and clay shards, and
protective clothing for the washers. FD will cooperate fully in learning the
needs and meeting them. FD will provide a table suitable for performing tahara,
with running water, heating, air conditioning, and all supplies needed. FD will
also provide a shomers’ area separate from, and
adjacent to the Tahara Room, with a telephone and rest room facilities.
6. Cleaning, dressing and
casketing the body when ritual washing is not performed.
7. Use of the FD’s chapel
for a funeral service when desired by a family.
8. Transportation of the
body to another place, such as a synagogue or a home, for the funeral service,
then transportation to the designated cemetery.
9. All customary
paperwork, such as newspaper notices, Social Security and Veterans claims,
death certificates, etc. This does not include the additional charges for those
items made by the newspapers, or the fees for the certificates, which shall be
charged at cost.
10. FD will order
certified copies of the death certificate on behalf of the family by
11. Guest register book
and fifty acknowledgement cards (memorial package), and Shiva/ritual candle, to
be given to the family.
12. All transportation to
and from places within 40 miles of the
13. On request, FD will
furnish one or more limousines and drivers for a minimum of three hours.
Minimum charges shall be $250 for a 6-passenger, $300 for an 8-passenger, and
$350 for a 10-passenger, limousine. Additional time shall be charged at $105
per hour or portion thereof. The time is measured from the time the limousine
leaves the garage to the time it returns, but no more than one hour shall be
charged for the round trip to and from the garage.
14. The family will not be
required to visit the funeral home. FD will send a representative to the bereaved’s home to accomplish paperwork, when
requested.
15. FD will permit one
person associated with the funeral to ride in the funeral coach with the
director.
16. If there is no
religious or funeral service, or if the body is transported to another funeral
director prior to such service, the charge shall be $950.
17. This funeral is
provided as a package. There will be no credit for services or merchandise
provided above which are not taken by the patron, except as specified in this
contract.
18. The FD agrees that
when a bereaved member of any congregation contacts it, it will inform the
person designated by the congregation or the Rabbi of the congregation. The FD
will also inform the bereaved of the designated congregational contact or the
rabbi. FD will not attempt to sell any upgrade merchandise or services to the
bereaved without involving the person designated by the congregation or the
Rabbi of the congregation.
19. Any merchandise not
included or optioned in this agreement, including the appendix, may be charged
at FD’s then current price list, reduced by the price list value of such
merchandise as it replaces. In no event will there be a separate charge for
professional services.
20. Families or
congregations will not be billed earlier than 30 days after the burial, except
that cemetery charges may be billed as required by the cemetery.
21. FD will assign a single
account executive whose primary duty is to receive calls for services, and to
facilitate its performance, under this contract. FD will see that such
functions are covered when the account executive is absent. Contract patrons
will be given a single number to call.
22. FD will keep JFPCGW
advised of its procedures, and of changes to its
procedures within 15 days of making the change.
23. FD will furnish JFPCGW
quarterly statistics of funerals performed and pre-need contracts made under
this agreement by the 15th day of the succeeding month, including the name of
the deceased, the congregation or other source of the call, and the amount of
each invoice.
24. JFPCGW shall have the
option to renew this contract for each of the next five years, until 6/30/11,
with annual price changes in accordance with the U.S. Government's Consumer
Price Index for Washington-Baltimore all Items - urban, for the most recent 12
month period available as of April 15, 2008 and of each succeeding year,
respectively. Reference data may be found at www.data.bls.gov
APPENDIX
1. Memorial package will
be taxed as merchandise per various state requirements. For that purpose, the
following values are assigned: Casket $162, including sales tax; Register
books, $15; fifty acknowledgement cards, $15; ritual candle, $10.
2. Any "cash
advance" charges or fees will be passed on to the user of those
services.