Secular Burial in Israel: What the Law Allows, What Actually Exists, and What Is Missing

Most Israelis do not know it, but the right has existed for thirty years: the Right to Alternative Civil Burial Law, enacted in 1996, establishes that every person is entitled to be buried according to their worldview. No Chevra Kadisha, no ceremony that does not fit them, no questions about religious affiliation. The right exists on paper. On the ground, there is almost nowhere to use it.

What exactly does the law say?

The law entitles a person to burial in an alternative civil cemetery, and obligates the state to allocate land for such cemeteries "at reasonable distances between regions of the country". A corporation licensed by the Ministry of Religious Services may operate a civil cemetery - meaning the full legal framework exists.

Equally important: the National Insurance burial fee applies to civil burial too. The financial right is identical.

And what exists in practice?

Here lies the gap. The number of civil cemeteries in Israel is very small relative to demand: a handful of sites, some in kibbutzim serving mainly their own members, and limited civil sections in a few cities. Many families discover at the hardest moment that the nearest option is far from home, full, or significantly more expensive than the standard track.

The result: thousands of secular families are buried every year in a track that does not reflect their worldview - simply because no available alternative existed.

What does a secular funeral look like?

• ●Who leads: a family member, a close friend, or a professional ceremony leader - the family chooses.
• ●The content: personal farewells, poetry, music, readings - no binding liturgy.
• ●Mixing is allowed: many families choose a blended ceremony - Kaddish alongside an Israeli song. It is not either-or.
• ●The burial itself: lawful, dignified, with all the standard permits.

Where Yaar Ad comes in

Yaar Ad is being established precisely to close this gap: a civil-ecological cemetery in the Judean Foothills, open to everyone, where each family chooses the character of the ceremony - secular, traditional, religious or entirely personal. The burial itself - directly in the earth, with a living tree instead of a headstone - honors both halacha and those far from it.

Civil burial does not mean giving up religion: each family chooses the ceremony for itself - religious, traditional or secular. Families who join the interest list now set the pace of development.