Volunteer opportunities for members of Chevra Kadisha

[Sharon Hundert]

Our Chevra Kadisha expects all members to perform taharot. There are people in the community, however, who want to become members and be of service. Can you tell me what other volunteer opportunities your Chevras have?

Thank you

[Regina Sandler-Phillips]

Dear Sharon,

Thanks for reaching out. Here's my "Torah on one foot" of hevra kadisha engagement: Seven Steps to Sacred Fellowship

I believe sh'mirah / vigil-keeping is the heart of levayah / accompanying — especially since most of our Jewish dead are *outside* the care of a taharah team for the majority of time between death and burial.

Leading with sh'mirah is how our ~70-volunteer hevra developed more than two decades ago. All hevra volunteers are vigil-keepers (of whom about one-third are also taharah team members), and some have recruited their teenagers  to sit with them. 

Since sh'mirah is a less daunting and less complicated form of sacred fellowship service, it encourages more “civilians” to join the ranks — and over time, more vigil-keepers step up to join the taharah team.

There are also dispatcher and other logistical / communication functions that support the sacred fellowship. These can be done by community members who do not necessarily participate in taharot.

With deep appreciation and many blessings for Shavua Tov and beyond,

Regina

Rabbi Regina Sandler-Phillips, MSW, MPH

WAYS OF PEACE Community Resources

In cities of diversity...we organize ourselves and our money...

and visit the sick...and bury the dead...and console the bereaved...

for these are WAYS OF PEACE." —Jerusalem Talmud (~400 CE)

On Sun, Jun 7, 2026 at 3:30 PM Sharon Hundert <sjhu...@gmail.com> wrote:

Our Chevra Kadisha expects all members to perform taharot. There are people in the community, however, who want to become members and be of service. Can you tell me what other volunteer opportunities your Chevras have?

Thank you

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[Maryasha Katz]

Hi, 

Our Chevra does not do this, but I think a cool way to participate would be to be  involved in making tachrichim.

Maryasha

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[Cindy Dubansky]

Depending on what services your Chevra provides and how it is structured, there could be many volunteer opportunities:

• Rosh/Rosha Chevra
• Billing and Financial Management
• Aron Coordinator (monitoring supply of aronot and ordering more when needed)
• First Contact Coordinator (at the time of a death, coordinate among the funeral home, cemetery/gravediggers, rabbi, Rosh/Rosha tahara, Shmira Coordinator/Scheduler, Communications - Notifications)
• Communications - Notifications (activate group emails and mass phone dialer system to notify shomrim volunteers of a death)
• Communications - News (newsletter, episodic news emails)
• Rosh/Rosha Tahara
• Tahara team member
• Shomer/Shomeret
• Shmira Coordinator/Scheduler
• Event Planner (such as for Zayin Adar, Jewish community resource fairs)
• Education (education of Chevra volunteers, education of the community about the Chevra and Jewish customs around death, dying, grief, mourning, Chevra Kadisha)
• Sewing tachrichim

NOTE 1: Also consider whether several of the above volunteer positions could be combined into a leadership team model.

NOTE 2: Some volunteer positions need to be the same person all the time, but it may be helpful to allow some volunteer positions to be split among more than one person. For example, an Event Planner volunteer might only be interested in planning Zayin Adar or only interested in planning it once and not every year. Someone might be more interested in organizing attendance at occasional community resource fairs. The Shmira Coordinator/Scheduler might rotate from one time to the next or from one month to the next. The First Contact Coordinator could rotate each month. Or roles could be combined - it might be easy enough for the First Contact Coordinator to also trigger the communications to shmira volunteers or for the Rosh/Rosha Chevra to manage the billing and financials.

 

NOTE 3: It is very helpful to create volunteer role descriptions (as opposed to job descriptions) for each role so there is consistency and continuity. When I first became involved, everything was by word of mouth, and different volunteers understood something different about the same role depending on who oriented them to the role. Over the years I have created role descriptions for several volunteer positions, and I would be happy to send you a template or examples of role descriptions.

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Cindy Dubansky
cld...@gmail.com