A few years ago, long-time Encino resident Steven Poretzky was winding down his career as a financial consultant and then executive director at Shomrei Torah Synagogue in West Hills. While he wasn’t ...

When members of the year-old Reform Communal Chevra Kadisha of New York complete their work preparing a Jewish body for burial, they take a few minutes to stand together around the closed coffin.

I first joined a Jewish burial society, known as a chevra kadisha, as a college student. At the time, I had recently converted to Judaism, and the work — preparing the dead for burial according to ...

Discussions around the creation of the burial society helped spark growing interest among Reform Jews in Jewish ritual burial and other end-of-life issues. When members of the year-old Reform Communal ...