About Us
Commitment to Our Community
A History of Tzedakah
Sinai Memorial Chapel blends the traditions of honoring those who have died with a commitment to tzedakah (charitable giving) to
support and preserve Judaism's precious values from one generation to the next.
When you make final arrangements for your loved ones, you are simultaneously performing a service to the community by enabling
Sinai to play an active role in the local Jewish community. We express the Jewish value of justice through the tradition of
tzedakah in several ways:
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DIGNIFIED BURIALS: Through our
Sinai K’vod Hamet Endowment Fund, we ensure a dignified burial for all people
identifying as Jewish in the Bay Area regardless of financial means. Through this same fund, we arrange for burial for the
loss of a pregnancy, perinatal, infant or child at no charge to the grieving parents.
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COMMUNITY GRANTS: We make Community Services Support Grants to local organizations whose work focuses on the continuum
of Jewish community services such as The Grief and Growing Weekend™ coordinated annually by the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center
to help people deal with loss.
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MOURNER CARE: Licensed professional counselors reach out to all Jewish community mourners, offering short-term no-cost
counseling bereavement services.
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CLERGY CONTRIBUTIONS: For families unable to pay for Jewish clergy to officiate at a funeral we provide an honorarium
through The Diane Lynn Cashel Memorial Fund for Rabbinical Services.
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PASSOVER FUNDS: Sinai practices the Jewish tradition of giving Ma’ot Chitim (Wheat Money) prior to the start of
Passover each spring. Grants are made to make the kitchens of local senior living centers kosher, to provide outreach to
disenfranchised families with food baskets and to organize seders for military veterans, those in senior homes and for imprisoned people.
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CEMETERY PRESERVATION: Sinai is also active in the Commission for the
Preservation of Pioneer Jewish Cemeteries and
Landmarks, created to preserve and manage historic Jewish cemeteries in the Gold Rush areas of California. Check out the
driving tour
and images.