Jewish Cemetery And Funeral Homes Accused Of Double-Selling Plots

"The black market in these graves is tremendous," a government source said. "It never stops."

 

According to the New York Post, a Brooklyn Jewish family was horrified to find out that a stranger had been buried in next to a beloved family member in what was supposed to a double plot they had owned for 24 years in Washington Cemetery:

…The cemetery denied responsibility for the grave error, claiming the plots are managed by various Jewish burial societies. Immigrants formed the societies decades ago, buying up plots and administering them for members.

Thousands of the societies have since become defunct, leaving the groups and the grave sites in their control vulnerable to corruption, including double-selling of plots.

"The black market in these graves is tremendous," a government source told The Post. "It never stops."

Kushnir hasn't the heart to tell her elderly, ill mom that her future grave [next to her beloved husband Wolf Tranis] is [now] occupied [by a stranger].

"I don't know what I'm going to do," she said.

The family asked the cemetery to exhume Kholodenko, a 63-year-old Sheepshead Bay breast-cancer victim, and return the plot. Instead, said family lawyer Eric Rothstein, the cemetery offered only to dig up Wolf and move him.

"No one wants to stand up and take responsibility for the error," he said. "Apparently, anybody can pull up with a hearse any time of day to bury someone and they're not going to check."

Kushnir and her family last week sued the cemetery, as well as the funeral home, I.J. Morris, of Brooklyn, and the society that originally sold the plots.…

The Post also notes that Houston-based Service Corporation International, a funeral industry giant, owns I.J. Morris and Nevsky Yablokoff, the funeral home that buried Nina Kholodenko, the 63-year-old Sheepshead Bay breast-cancer victim, in the plot next to Wolf Tranis.

[Hat Tip: Seymour.]

Comments

[norm]

This sounds like a good plot for a mel Brooks sequenl to the Producers

[anuran]

Reminds me of the guy who was taking the short way home through the cemetery. He bumped into a headstone which read "Here he lies, a lawyer and an honest man."

"Be damned," he says "They buried two men in the same grave."

[catcher50]

The last para is the key one. SCI is a major part of the problem. With all of the industry problems (check WaPo for the problems with Arlington National Cemetery), SCI is the greatest violator. They have been taken to court a number of times, in a number of states, and have lost virtually each time.

For further info on this and cures, please go to:

http://www.jewish-funerals.org and click on funeral industry.

[azi]

Washington cemetery was in the news a few years ago for having run out of plots, they do not have a single on anymore to sell.

they were trying to find out whether they can repossess empty plots from defunct burial societies to sell them, so i wouldn't be surprised if they actually sold the plot.

[What kind of goyishe name is Harold z"l?]

The people in Brooklyn can no longer claim ignorance when all they know and practice is arrogance in the face of G-d. Earthquakes and tornadoes will follow very soon. These are not my words. I only say over what I have heard from great (read real) Rabanim lamenting on the tragedies of our dor and saw in seforim hakdoshim. I omit only the exact dates (contractual clause). Acheinu kol bais yisroel - Have a great Yomtov and stay honest so that we can be worthy of the long overdue bias go'el tzedek.

[abcdef]

The people in Brooklyn can no longer claim ignorance when all they know and practice is arrogance in the face of G-d. Earthquakes and tornadoes will follow very soon. These are not my words. I only say over what I have heard from great (read real) Rabanim lamenting on the tragedies of our dor and saw in seforim hakdoshim. I omit only the exact dates (contractual clause). Acheinu kol bais yisroel - Have a great Yomtov and stay honest so that we can be worthy of the long overdue bias go'el tzedek.

Posted by: What kind of goyishe name is Harold z"l? | April 24, 2011 at 12:22 PM

What the hell is the matter with you?!

[Yochanan Lavie]

Happy last days of Pesach to the entire FM community.

[Ali]

What the hell is the matter with you?! I second that comment!

Washington Cemetery charges something like $50 per search for budding genealogists looking for family members. Most cemeteries don't charge anything for that. I wonder if they want to discourage people from asking questions?

For even more atrocious cemetery horrors, follow the Bayside Cemetery litigation problem at

http://site.baysidecemeterylitigation.com/

The good people at Shaare Zedek, one of New York's oldest synagogues, are responsible for this mess.

If that doesn't get under your skin do a google search on the thefts at Salem Fields Cemetery, also in Brooklyn & Queens.

I have relatives buried at all three cemeteries as far back as the 1860's.

Harold, my Reform relatives did not deserve to have their graves desecrated. Furthermore, my relatives whose remains are the safest and most secure are those who were cremated. Got a pro-ultra orthodoxy one liner to support that historical fact?

[state of disgust]

A number of years ago the Jewish cemetery owners in NY locked out their employees rather then go along with the industry wide contract. They then hired a bunch of ex-con scabs. One day the workers were on a picket line and the scabs, coming back from lunch, went out of their way to go to the area where the workers were picketing and started a fight. The workers ran. One worker was shot in the back and another stabbed.

The stories that came out about unscrupulous owner behavior were the kind of thing screenwriters only dream about. One owner sitting on the Board of another and visa versa so they could collect more then one paycheck. Multiple cars for the owner and family, etc. Even one case where there was more then one body buried in the same grave. Eventually one owner was forced to resign and several others were forced to sell. To say these are not nice people is putting it mildly.

BTW, the workers could have prevented the scabs from being hired but agreed not to contest the issue because they felt they shouldn't disturb people during their time of grief. A well known Rabbi said to me at the time, "Next time, let the bodies pile up. Only then will the owners act like menchen!"

[Ali]

Washington Cemetery is not included in the JewishGen burial registry. That registry is an ongoing project & all cemeteries are certainly not included. However, it makes one wonder why one of New York's largest Jewish cemeteries is not recorded? Does it have to do with the cemetery managers not allowing access?

[What kind of goyishe name is Harold z"l?]

Harold, my Reform relatives did not deserve to have their graves desecrated.

Religious affiliation has nothing to do with this.

As long as the brooklyn miscreants defecate in G-d's face by protecting child molesters, rapists, fraudsters and elevating them to holy/hero status, not even the dead can rest in peace.

[abcdef]

Harold, my Reform relatives did not deserve to have their graves desecrated.

Religious affiliation has nothing to do with this.

As long as the brooklyn miscreants defecate in G-d's face by protecting child molesters, rapists, fraudsters and elevating them to holy/hero status, not even the dead can rest in peace.

Posted by: What kind of goyishe name is Harold z"l? | April 24, 2011 at 04:00 PM,

I repeat: What the hell is the matter with you?!

[Ali]

I see your point Harold, and it's stupid. For the third time, what the hell is the matter with you?

You are right, religious affiliation has nothing to do with this. In fact, religion has noting to do with this. The crimes happened at Jewish cemeteries but they are not anti Semitic crimes, they are just crimes.

Must be hard for you to imagine anything happening without it having to do with religion, God, Rabanim, seforim hakdoshim, and bias go'el tzedek voodoo.

Do yourself a favor & read a Harlequin romance. It's closer to reality than the stuff you're reading.

[Adam Neira]

You can't die twice unless you are an action hero in a B Grade flick. So double selling of these burial plots wont work.

There is a message here with this story. Has to do with the role of the dead, the living and the yet to come and G-d. Divine timetables, redemption, souls etc.

[Yosef ben M.]

as long as they have a long beard, wear a black yarmulke, a black hat on top of it, a black suit or frock, a white shirt, black shoes (dirty is alright!) they are perfectly entitled by law to steal!

[Ali]

Sorry Yosef, this just isn't a religious crime. And Adam, there is no hidden message here. Plots were double sold. Period. Try as you might, there is no great force at work here.

By the way, many Christians are buried at Washington Cemetery.

[Dave]

The entire funeral industry is a sham taking advantage of and ripping people off at the worst time in their lives. Service Corp International and one other huge corporation own 90% of the funeral homes in the US. They bought them from families who had run them for generations. Often, they keep the sellers/operators on to run the business for them. Hellman's Funeral Home in Hillcrest has one Jew working there. It's supposed to be a Jewish Funeral Home. Caskets are sold at 4000% markups. It's no surprise that this happens at "Jewish Cemeteries" and I agree this is greed not anything relating to anti-semitism.

[Adam Neira]

To Ali,

I am not disputing the clinical details of this double dipping. I am alluding to something else, which I don't have time here to explain. To keep it simple (K.I.S.S.) I am making inferences about the divine calender and the interplay of the dead, living, yet to come and G-d.

Some incidents in life are microcosms of the larger matrix of reality and all potential. If you know what is going on you can extrapolate meaning from them. G-d is always sending us messages if we are willing to listen. It is just that some people‘s radios have more static than others.

[ali]

Adam, I respectfully think you're full of s**t. This has nothing to do with God, Karma, Magic, Sorcery, Extra Terrestrials, Thetans, Superman, The Great and Powerful Oz, or any other supernatural power. Humans with questionable ethical standards saw an opportunity to profit and took it.

They drew a different line between right and wrong than most of us, and according to you, this has to do with religion.

I suppose you think that once everyone is ultra orthodox they will be perfect. There will be no more lying, cheating, stealing or sex abuse, and the plethora of other ultra orthodox crimes that are regularly reported on this site will simply go away.

Yeah, when we're all nuts like you the world will be perfect.

[Adam Neira]

To Ali,

I'll answer all your comments.

(1) No my body works very well. I'm in good health. Elimination has never been a problem.

(2) The first force you mention out of the nine you list is correct. All the others are not. I gather you are an atheist. But even atheists are part of the superset that is G-d consciousness they just don't realise it. If you have some issues in your life you would like help with at the moment, and who doesn't ?, try reading Genesis and engage in some sincere prayer and see what unfolds.

(3) All groups whether religiously observant or secular have people in them who have committed crimes. You will never hear me defend one group over another just because of their identity.

(3) Your "suppose" comment is off the mark. Please don't put words in my mouth and then launch into a tirade. As Benny Hill said "When you A-S-S-U-M-E you make an ass out of you and me."

(4) I'm not nuts but I don't mind a good macadamia.

[IH]

Washington Cemetery is not included in the JewishGen burial registry. That registry is an ongoing project & all cemeteries are certainly not included. However, it makes one wonder why one of New York's largest Jewish cemeteries is not recorded? Does it have to do with the cemetery managers not allowing access?

As far as I am aware, even the NYC-area Jewish cemeteries that do have an online interments database are not in JOWBR; one needs to search them individually. Last I checked, Washington Cemetery does not have an online database, but I have found their office staff to be very helpful.

Further, there is a commercial company that has created a database of Washington Cemetery graves, including photos: http://jewishdata.com/.

[IH]

Washington Cemetery is not included in the JewishGen burial registry. That registry is an ongoing project & all cemeteries are certainly not included. However, it makes one wonder why one of New York's largest Jewish cemeteries is not recorded? Does it have to do with the cemetery managers not allowing access?

Posted by: Ali | April 24, 2011 at 03:21 PM

As far as I am aware, even the NYC-area Jewish cemeteries that have an online interments database are not in JOWBR; one needs to search them individually. Last I checked, Washington Cemetery does not have an online database, but I have found their office staff to be very helpful.

Further, there is a commercial company that has created a database of Washington Cemetery graves, including photos: http://jewishdata.com/.

[Gevezener Chusid]

anybody who knows anything about Washington Cemetery knows it is not an orthodox establishment so all of you a-holes who keep harping about the evils of the orthodox are merely further proclaiming your own idiocy.