Jewish funeral services in Utah
If you were not sure a Utah funeral home could walk with a Jewish family, we can — on the timetable your tradition asks for, with your rabbi leading.
The day follows your tradition
Jewish families in Salt Lake City sometimes assume the local funeral home only knows one way to do this. Larkin will shape a Jewish funeral around what your rabbi requires: the timing, the simplicity, and the people from your own community who perform the rites.
We do not replace the rabbi or the chevra kadisha. We make the practical work fit the religious work, whether your congregation is Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, or Chabad, here in the Salt Lake Valley or elsewhere in Utah.
What Jewish tradition usually asks of the funeral home
Your rabbi has the final word. These are the requests we are ready to meet.
Burial without delay
Tradition calls for burial as soon as it can be done with dignity, often within a day, and not on Shabbat or a festival. Call us any hour. We start at once and work backward from the time your rabbi sets.
Tahara and shmira
When your community performs tahara, the ritual washing, we provide a private room and we leave. If a shomer will stay with the person, we make a quiet place for that watch. Those roles belong to your people, not to our staff.
A plain wooden casket
An aron of simple wood, without metal ornament, is what a traditional funeral uses. We keep that option ready. We will not steer you toward something more elaborate.
Embalming, viewing, and cremation
Many Jewish funerals include neither embalming nor a public viewing, and Orthodox and Conservative practice do not use cremation. Some Reform families choose differently. We ask your rabbi before we suggest any of it.
What we take off the family's list
- A private room for the chevra kadisha, and space for a shomer to sit.
- A plain wooden casket, and no sales conversation that treats simplicity as a lesser choice.
- Transportation to the synagogue or straight to the cemetery, on the day your rabbi names.
- A careful talk with the cemetery if an outer burial container is required, so the cemetery rule and the tradition can both be respected.
Where the service can be held
The funeral may be at your synagogue, at the grave, or in a chapel your rabbi approves. Shiva is kept at home. We time the burial so the family can begin shiva without a scramble.
- Downtown Salt Lake City — 260 E South Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84111. (801) 363-5781.
- Larkin Sunset Lawn — 2350 E 1300 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, with our crematory. (801) 582-1582.
- Larkin Sunset Gardens, Sandy — 1950 E Dimple Dell Rd, Sandy, UT 84092. (801) 571-2771.
- Riverton — 3688 W 12600 S, Riverton, UT 84065. (801) 254-4850.
Questions families ask
Does Larkin Mortuary handle Jewish funerals in Salt Lake City?
Yes. We coordinate Jewish funerals for families in Salt Lake City and across Utah. Your rabbi and chevra kadisha lead the rites. We handle care, timing, the casket, transportation, and the cemetery.
Can burial happen quickly?
Yes. Call (801) 363-5781 at any hour. We begin immediately and we schedule around Shabbat and festivals when those days fall in the way.
Do you provide a simple wooden casket?
Yes. A plain wooden casket is something we can provide for a traditional Jewish burial.
Can the service be at our synagogue?
Yes. It can also be at the cemetery, or in one of our chapels if your rabbi prefers that. We do not assume the funeral has to be in our building.
Other traditions we serve
Tell us what your faith requires.
Call, including in the middle of the night. We will ask what your clergy and your family need, and we will arrange the day around that.