French Chief Rabbi Denies Funeral Extort Try
Grave Case: A rabbi in the French city of Marseille is denying a family?s claim that a Jewish burial authority tried to extort money to squeeze a grave into this cemetery. Image by courtesy of la provence
Marseille’s chief rabbi has denied allegations that his employees tried to extort illicit funds from a bereaved family.
The allegations were made in a complaint filed with police last week in connection with the passing of Jeannine Timsit, the La Provance Daily reported Tuesday.
Several of Timsit’s family members said that employees of the city’s Consistoire, the Jewish communal body responsible for providing religious services, including funerals, asked for a $9,100 kickback in exchange for burying her in a family plot at Saint-Pierre cemetery.
The family says the request was made hours after they had agreed to pay the Consistoire $1,300 for Timsit’s burial in a family plot next to other relatives.
Frederic Tismit, the woman’s grandson, told La Provence that the caretakers at Saint-Pierre added burial space in the family plot in 2012. But the Consistoire did not bury the deceased at the designated spot because the family would not pay the larger sum, the daily reported.
Timsit, who reportedly asked to be buried next to her husband, was buried elsewhere by the municipal burial service, in an area designated for Jewish burials by the Consistoire.
Ruben Ohana, the chief rabbi of Marseille, denied any irregularities. He said the family’s burial plot was full “and the Consistoire never promised to extend it. This would have meant an elevation, which is forbidden by Jewish ethics, unless I would have given permission, which I never have,” he told La Provence.
Ohana also said that $9,100 was a normal price for a Jewish burial, the daily reported.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
