Funeral Procedures

What you must do:

Call Sol Levinson & Bros. funeral home, no matter the day or time: 

410-653-8900

Levinson’s will arrange for their staff to bring your loved one back to the funeral home as quickly as possible. If a person dies outside of Baltimore, still call Levinson’s first and they will handle the logistics with an out-of-town funeral home.

Please let Sol Levinson know if the deceased is a member of the Chevra.

What happens next:

Levinson’s is well versed in all the details of burial at the Chevra. They will handle all the necessary phone calls to coordinate details of the funeral. 

Depending upon whether you have preplanned, they will either schedule a time to call your family back to review details, or a time for your family to come in to make all the necessary decisions.

The funeral directors at Sol Levinson & Bros. will do: 

  • Reach out to a Chevra representative to receive the correct grave location.
  • Notify the Chevra Kadisha to coordinate their coming to perform the taharah (ritual washing and dressing of a person).
  • Call the caretaker, W.S. Tegeler Monument Co., to notify them of the date, time, and location for the burial. 
  • Contact your rabbi or engage clergy for you if you don’t have any. 
  • Coordinate getting the death certificate signed.
  • Submit any requested notices.
  • Provide shiva items.
  • Handle all the other background tasks that need to happen for the service to take place.

Members of the Chevra do not have to pay a fee for the Chevra Kadisha to perform the taharah. Burial requirements are that a person must have a taharah and be dressed in a pure linen shroud, in a plain pine coffin, with no vault or lining in the grave. At the cemetery, the family must provide their own pallbearers. The Chevra custom is that the grave be filled in by male attendees.

What you need to have available:

  • The person’s tallis if they are male. If needed, Levinson’s can provide one for a small fee.
  • The person’s full Hebrew name (their name, plus their father’s name).

Other items to consider:

We strongly encourage scheduling a conversation with one of Levinson’s Advance Planning Specialists. It is an important way to make decisions ahead of time and find out how much your specific funeral preferences will cost. You can also pre-pay so that your family does not have a major financial obligation at the time of a funeral. 

When you meet with Levinson’s, their goal is to provide education on all the options available to you. They will: 

  • Get information for any public notices. 
  • Obtain statistical information for the death certificate.
  • Explain various service options.
  • Go through all the other details and decisions that may go into a service. 
  • Provide resources for gathering personal history for the clergy to use and collecting important documents to make things easier on your family after someone’s death.

You will receive a full itemization including many third-party charges such as a rabbi’s honorarium, the charge for opening the grave, and perpetual care fees. The Chevra issues a separate Foundation Charge for the headstone at the time the family erects a monument at the burial site.

If you have preplanned and someone dies, Levinson’s can schedule a brief phone call to discuss scheduling the service and confirming service details. If you do not pre-plan, Levinson’s will schedule a time for your family to come to the funeral home to go through all this information after someone’s death. 

You can see more information on Advance Planning at www.sollevinson.com/advance-planning