Some 50 protestors, fearing that a proposed merger between the two largest funeral homes in the country may make affordable Jewish burials less likely, rallied on Tuesday outside the Federal Trade Commission building in Washington.
The Service Corporation International’s planned acquisition of Stewart Enterprises may mean that Stewart’s contract with Hines-Rinaldi Funeral Home’s Jewish Funeral Practices Committee of Silver Spring, Mar., which provides Jewish funerals at a price $4,000 less than the average funeral, may not be renewed, according to the protestors.
The contract with Hines-Rinaldi offers a traditional Jewish funeral with a simple pine coffin.
The protestors carried signs that read and chanted, “I can’t afford to die with SCI” and “Hear Our Voices. We want choices.”
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