Compare Mitzvah

June 2022 comparison

Mitzvah is $4180.38 less ($700 limousine eliminated) 

 *Compare Mitzvah Ad below is from 2018

Most people don't realize when you prepay for a funeral with a funeral home, you aren't required to use the funeral home. In most cases, the funds are deposited into an insurance policy or trust account in the name of the person for whose funeral they are intended to pay for.


In October of 2015 a daughter whose father had passed away accidently called Mitzvah Memorial Funerals.  She had already prepaid her father's funeral through Chicago Jewish Funerals the previous May.    By assigning the insurance policy over to Mitzvah, the family saved over $2600 without sacrificing anything. These excess funds were sent by the insurance company directly to the daughter the same week as the funeral. You can read the ad the daughter of the deceased ran with us by going to this > Testimonial Ad 1


In December of 2016, another daughter who had transferred her father's prepaid funeral with Piser to Mitzvah months before lost her 106 year old father.  Mitzvah performed the same funeral service at Beth Hillel in Wilmette renting their beautiful sanctuary for $500. Even with this rental expense, Mitzvah provided the same services, and similar casket and vault and refunded the daughter $4155 from her father's insurance policy.


In August of 2019 a family switched their prepaid funeral made with Chicago Jewish Funerals 2011 to Mitzvah Memorial Funerals.  Their fathers insurance policy had grown in value by almost $2000 in the 8 1/2 years.  Had they stayed with Chicago Jewish Funerals, most, if not all of this would have been used to cover the increase in charges of Chicago Jewish Funerals and the family may have had to pay the additional $400 their cemetery had gone up.  With Mitzvah,  the cemetery was paid the extra $400 and there was over $4600 in excess funds which were applied to the cemetery marker foundation fee and $3750 Forever Care.  The family did cancel the $550 limousine, the $400 casket spray and changed the casket to a poplar casket from an oak casket, but this was only $2026 of the $4600  in savings, and most likely they would have had to pay the $400 increase in cemetery charges had they not switched.


in April of 2020 Mitzvah took an assignment on a funeral contract that was prepaid through Weinstein & Piser. They were told they couldn't change, or cancel anything their father pre-arranged including the limousine, even though the service needed to be graveside due to the pandemic. The family told us this and we told them to use us. By doing so and changing the casket and vault slightly the family saved over $6600. 


Mitzvah has done this for dozens of families who have switched to Mitzvah as this is the savings Mitzvah often provides families.


So how do we do this?


We are independently owned and we don't operate from a multi-million dollar funeral home with chapels with high overhead costs. We are therefore able to provide our services and merchandise at a substantial savings versus what Chicago Jewish funeral homes with chapels charge. Usually the saving is between $2000-$5000 on a full funeral service and casket depending on which funeral home you are comparing us to, what casket your family would be selecting, where the service will be held, and if it is to be held at a Synagogue if your family belongs to a Synagogue, or chooses to rent one of the 6 that are available (Skokie, Wilmette, Highland Park and Northbrook, or a former Synagogue facility in Buffalo Grove).


Our normal price for a graveside funeral service is now $2995-$3195. We charge $3495 if the service is held from a Synagogue.  For families not affiliated with a synagogue and who want the service indoors, we have several available for rent, most charging $500. We can also use the chapels at Westlawn, Sunset Memorial Lawns and New Light Cemetery if burial will be taking place at one of these cemeteries.

 

Chicago Jewish Funerals (CJF) and Goldman Funeral Group charge the same prices. Their General Price Lists (GPL) show a graveside funeral service with a hearse totaling $5220 versus our $3195. Weinstein & Piser's GPL show a graveside service as being $5115 and Shalom's GPL shows a graveside service as being $5630.  Over $2000, over $1900 and over $2400 more than Mitzvah respectively!


These charges are just for their services and do NOT include the casket! 

Our E package of $5195 includes all of the same services (service at graveside) as well as round top poplar casket with a cherry finish commonly referred to as the Adom, but also called the Simeon, the Karmiel, or the 043 HW.   The same services and similar casket from CJF and Goldman, Weinstein & Piser and Shalom would be approximately $3320, $3915 and $4130 more and this doesn't include the approximate $100-$150 in sales-tax savings on the casket as ours is priced approximately $1095-$1795 less.

 

We offer the same, or similar caskets that our competitors offer.  We show all of our caskets with their prices on our website.  None of our competitors do this!


Examples of savings on our caskets:


The minimum traditional wood casket that we carry with a finish and an interior is called the Dan.    It is also known as the Kidron, or the 041M or the Ascher at Shalom.  Our competitors  only offer this in an unfinished raw wood. They charged $2695-$2795 for this.  Ours is finished and sells for $1600 Over $1000 less).


Although we can clearly show the savings on our service charges versus our competitors, it is harder to show the savings on caskets. Our competitors don't show their casket prices on their websites (we do---> MITZVAH CASKETS ) and most of our competitors don't provide their merchandise price lists for retention. 

 EXAMPLES OF CASKET SAVINGS

Their Kidron-Dan-Aaron or 041M $2795 unfinished?

Our Dan-Kidron-Aaron or 041M 
$1600 finished

Their Haggai or Tamar-$2950

Our Haggai aka Tamar or Gideon $2000
 Comes with star of David 
not pictured

Most of our caskets are offered at substantial savings versus what our competitor charge for the same or simiilar units. Any of our caskets can be purchased for delivery to our competitors should your family choose to have the funeral at a Chicago Jewish funeral home's chapel. The funeral home will accept the casket without any additional fee as they are required by law to do.


Although savings is important, receiving compassionate professional service is paramount. The funeral directors with Mitzvah Memorial Funerals have over 145 years of combine funeral experience.   The Mandel family has been in the Jewish funeral business in Chicago for over 115 years.   You can learn more about our directors and their experience by clicking on ---> OUR EXPERIENCED STAFF .


*Note: This comparison chart was compiled using the published General Price Lists of each firm. Most of our competitors do not make their casket price list available for retention so we are limited in being able provide their prices for all of their caskets.  If you would like a copy of a General Price Lists (ours, and/or the most recent version of our competitors price list that we have in our possession) or have any questions, please call us. Our competitors price list are subject to change without our knowledge.


Mitzvah Memorial Funerals 630-MITZVAH (630-648-9824)


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