Compensation Process Opens for Soviet Jewish Families Discriminated in Burial Services in Petah Tikva

Following a decade-long legal battle, families of Soviet Jewish origin who faced discriminatory burial practices by the Petah Tikva Chevra Kadisha can now apply for compensation. In May 2026, Israel's Supreme Court ruled that the Chevra Kadisha discriminated against deceased Jews from the former Soviet Union by burying them in separate cemetery sections at Segula and Yarkon cemeteries in Petah Tikva. The organization denied discrimination, attributing the separate burials to families engraving photos on tombstones, which allegedly violated religious law.

The Petah Tikva Chevra Kadisha abolished the separate burial policy in 2016. In 2024, the district court ordered compensation totaling approximately 4.3 million shekels to eligible relatives. After an appeal, the Supreme Court reduced the amount to about 3.6 million shekels. Compensation will be distributed equally among families based on the number of graves, not the number of family members.

Applications for compensation opened on August 4, 2026, and will remain open until December 4, 2026. Eligible applicants must be relatives of the deceased who were buried between November 17, 2009, and May 31, 2017, in the specified sections of the Segula and Yarkon cemeteries. Eligible relatives include spouses, children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents, and siblings. The claim process is free, with assistance available through the law firm representing the plaintiffs and the Tel Aviv University class action clinic.

The plaintiffs' legal representatives highlighted the significance of this resolution, crediting two individuals, Erik Avrokin and Niki Zintchenko, for initiating the case to address the injustice suffered by their relatives. They emphasized that the new burial policy adopted by the Chevra Kadisha eliminates discrimination based on country of origin and that the compensation aims to heal the pain caused by the prior segregated burial practice.