About Community Chevra Kadisha Los Angeles (CCKLA)
Our Mission & Vision
Our Mission
We provide Chevra Kadisha services and Jewish end-of-life education to every corner of Los Angeles.
Our Vision
We envision a Los Angeles where:
Every Jewish person can receive the sacred rituals we offer at no cost, and without regard to affiliation or level of observance, and
Every Jewish family feels equipped to make informed, meaningful end-of-life decisions, grounded in the wisdom of our traditions.
Community Chevra Kadisha Los Angeles (CCKLA) is an independent not-for-profit organization, not tied to any single denomination, movement, or synagogue, dedicated to making the rituals surrounding Jewish burial available throughout the Los Angeles Jewish community.
CCKLA was born from a simple belief: that death is not the end of our obligation to one another, but a time filled with some of its most sacred expressions.
No matter their background, denomination, or level of observance, everyone in our community deserves to be cared for with dignity, love, and the rituals their ancestors received.
How We Live Our Mission and Vision
We carry our mission and vision forward through two commitments.
Sacred Service For Every Jewish Person
We provide Tahara, the sacred process of washing, ritual purification, and dressing the deceased, and Shmirah, accompanying the deceased before burial. These sacred services are offered without charge, and our doors are open to all.
Our deepest intention is to serve all in our care with honor, loving kindness, and respect.
Education For Informed, Meaningful Choices
Too many families face end-of-life and after-death decisions unaware of the depth and comfort our Jewish traditions hold. We want to change this. Through events, learning, and conversation, we educate on the richness of our traditions, allowing families all over LA to move forward with clarity and confidence.
Our deepest intention is that no Jewish family should face these moments without the comfort and guidance our traditions offer.
Through collaboration with rabbis, funeral homes, Jewish organizations, and community partners, we work to ensure that every Jewish person in Los Angeles knows we are here and has access to the traditions that can guide them.
CCKLA is honored to walk alongside you in the moments that matter most.
What Does A Chevra Do?
A Chevra Kadisha is a sacred society responsible for upholding Jewish customs as part of our traditional communal responsibility for care before burial.
Shmirah
Jewish tradition believes that the soul does not depart the body immediately after death. For this reason, it has become customary for a Shomer to stay with the body in the time before burial. Family members and friends are encouraged to join in the meaningful service of sitting Shmirah.
Tahara
Tahara is the physical and spiritual readying of the deceased for burial. It is a gentle ritual designed to restore someone to their purest essence so that they may meet God cleansed from the dust of living. The deceased is gently washed and ritually purified with water. The body is dressed in simple traditional burial garments, signifying humility and purity. Then it is wrapped in a shrouding cloth and placed in a simple casket. Throughout the process, the Tahara team recites blessings and prayers and reads related texts.
Members of a Chevra Kadisha maintain strict confidentiality to respect the dignity of the deceased and bring anonymous comfort to the deceased’s family.
Community Chevra Kadisha Los Angeles is always on call to carry out these sacred tasks
If any part of this resonates with you, we'd love to have you join us as a volunteer, a learner, a supporter, or simply someone who wants to stay connected.
Community Chevra Kadisha of Los Angeles, formerly known as Valley Chevra Kadisha (VCK)
A founding moment
Some organizations are born from policy. Ours was born from an invitation — deep in grief — that changed one of our founders forever.
In 2004, co-founder Steve Poretzky sat with his father through the night before his burial. A funeral director had asked whether Steve wanted to serve as a shomer — a guardian who stays with the deceased in the hours before burial — and though he had never heard the term, something told him to say yes. He stayed through the night. He talked to his dad. He sat with the silence. And when morning came, he understood something he hadn't before: that Jewish tradition holds death and mourning with extraordinary care, and that most of us never get to experience it.
He committed that night to change that for himself, and for others.
A shared realization
In the years that followed, Steve planted seeds, but life and COVID stalled his attempts to bring his vision to life. Rabbi Richard Camras supported Steve's vision, and several years later, Rabbi Jonathan Bernhard joined as the second co-founder.
They united around a shared realization: Los Angeles, home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the world, had almost no chevra kadisha outside the Orthodox world — leaving 600,000 Jewish Angelenos without access to the sacred ritual care their tradition had always offered. So they built it.
From the Valley to Los Angeles
They began as Valley Chevra Kadisha (VCK), founded to serve the San Fernando Valley — but the need was greater than this. As volunteers multiplied and relationships with funeral homes, cemeteries, and synagogues deepened, the work spread across Los Angeles, beyond the Valley they had set out to serve.
In early 2026, to reflect the community it had become, VCK changed its name to Community Chevra Kadisha Los Angeles (CCKLA).
We are Community Chevra Kadisha Los Angeles, and our name says it all: we are a community created to serve every Jew in the greater Los Angeles area.