Courtesy of Plaza Jewish Community Chapel

Courtesy of Plaza Jewish Community Chapel

Courtesy of Plaza Jewish Community Chapel

Courtesy of Plaza Jewish Community Chapel

In the early 2000s, a group of Jewish institutional leaders and clergy from all denominations and across New York City gathered to discuss a bold idea: an affordable Jewish funeral home that would serve Jews of every denomination while also providing meaningful community resources.  

The idea became Plaza Jewish Community Chapel, which this year celebrates a milestone 25th anniversary.

One of these leaders was Rabbi Peter Rubinstein, who was our Senior Rabbi at the time. “It feels like just yesterday,” that he was doing radio ads to inform the public of this new endeavor, Rabbi Rubinstein recalled. “I don't remember how many of them I did. But I was enthusiastic and I believed in the idea, so I became a radio personality.”

At the time of its founding, no such organization existed in New York (there are only a handful in the country) – all the funeral homes in the city were for-profit. The vision was groundbreaking not only because Plaza was established as a nonprofit, but also because it was one of the few Jewish organizations at the time designed to serve the entire Jewish community — Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and Jews of all backgrounds.

Today, Plaza is “so much more than a funeral chapel,” said Executive Vice President Stephanie Garry, who has been with the organization since 2002. “We are one of the few Jewish organizations in the city that services the entire Jewish community and has a large, diverse board made up of people of all backgrounds and denominations and social service agencies.”

Alongside Rabbi Rubinstein, members, clergy, and lay leaders from Central have been deeply involved with Plaza since its earliest days.  

Al Engelberg, a Central member and Plaza’s founding board chair, helped raise the initial funds needed to establish the organization, an experience he describes as “a great privilege.”

“Central has been one of the strongest supporters of Plaza for the last 25 years,” he added. “I was looking to raise money for higher-quality initiatives that help the community, so I thought it was a great idea.”

Today, Rabbi Rubinstein and Rabbi Mo Salth serve on Plaza’s Board of Directors, alongside Central members Harold Handler, Frank Linde, Michelle Rubel, Howard Sharfstein, and Laura Spitzer. Frank Linde also serves as treasurer.

“Being on Plaza's Board is not simply a governance responsibility for me; it is an opportunity to support an organization whose work reflects the very best of our community's values,” said Spitzer. “As a nonprofit — focused on service and not profit — Plaza serves families at their most raw and vulnerable moments with compassion, dignity, and care. The organization lives Jewish values every day.”

In addition to funeral services, Plaza provides bereavement and end-of-life support and offers approximately 50 educational programs each year. Its educational work includes teaching Hebrew Union College rabbinical students. Central also regularly brings its students from classes like Exploring Judaism, B’nai Mitzvah, and Doing Jewish to Plaza to learn about Jewish mourning rituals and practices.

Plaza also created and supports New York’s only Reform Chevra Kaddisha, a group of volunteers who participate in the Jewish rituals of purifying and guarding the body after death. Many Central members volunteer for this sacred act.

“When my father died, it was so meaningful to have Central members who knew my family to be the ones to prepare my father for his funeral [with tahara, ritual washing] and to sit as a guard near his body [as a shomer], all in the name of honoring a person who has died,” said Central member Hilary Hotchkiss. “It was uniquely moving.”

Garry has further expanded Plaza’s mission through Exit Strategy, a podcast exploring grief, life and death through Jewish study and storytelling. Past guests have included Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, Rabbi Lisa Rubin, Rabbi Nicole Auerbach, and Central President Emeritus Howard Sharfstein.

“We are in the business of sacred service. That is the common denominator between all of us,” Garry said. “I consider Plaza to be one of the shining jewels of Jewish life.”

Twenty-five years later, the bold vision of leaders from across the Jewish community has endured and provided our city with the most meaningful of Jewish institutions.

“It is such a great thing for New York to have, and it's doing its job as it was planned to do,” Rabbi Rubinstein reflected.