Memorialization

Memorialization

We strongly encourage you to consult with your Rabbi, or a Rabbi, when considering a memorial for your loved one. Rabbis can assist you with the spelling of Hebrew names and phrases and may also suggest appropriate inscriptions and ways to memorialize your loved one. Our office will carefully review all requests for memorials which are to be placed at our cemeteries so as to ensure that the solemnity and dignity of the cemeteries are adhered to and maintained as our community would expect and in accordance with our Rules. Please ensure that your monument dealer provides us with a 3D dimensional depiction of the proposed monument for our approval.

You must contact our Administrative Office at 416.223.1373 so that we can approve your proposed unveiling date and time.

As a guide to you, please note how we will review any design requests for a monument or a marker. The word “design” includes text inscriptions, images and symbols.

  • Monuments are intended primarily to memorialize and honour the deceased. While they are visited by the family and friends, they are also viewed by all other members of the  community who pass by. Further, in Jewish tradition, cemeteries are specifically  consecrated at the outset, and are intended to project an atmosphere of holiness,  sacredness, solemnity, dignity, and decorum. Text or images which may provoke levity in  strangers passing by, are not appropriate;
  • No human likeness (except stylized raised hands) or animal likeness (except stylized lions or approved stylized doves) shall be part of the design. A Star of David, a menorah, a washing cup, or other traditional Jewish symbols may be part of the design. A relatively small symbol reflective of the deceased may also be part of the design and may be located at the bottom quarter of the front of the Monument and shall be no larger than 7.5 inches (height) x 7.5 inches (length);
    E.g.: a Veteran’s poppy, the IDF/Zahal insignia, the Yad Vashem logo, etc.
  • Trademarked images or images of a commercial nature will not be approved;
  • The only inscriptions which shall be permitted on the back side of the monument shall be the last name of the deceased (and first name if also desired), the words ‘Holocaust Survivor’, as well as the names of immediate family members who perished in the Holocaust;
  • All monuments or markers shall conform to the size restrictions set out in our Rules and are to be generally of a rectangular shape made of a single slab of granite with no cut-throughs.
  • Nothing shall be affixed to the Monument or Marker; and
  • Our Organization, in its sole discretion, will decide as to whether or not a design is in keeping with the foregoing. All elements of the design of the Monument or Marker must  be approved by our Organization.

Only monument dealers permitted by Bathurst Lawn Memorial Park may place monuments and markers in our cemeteries. These firms are familiar with our Rules and specifications as well as Halacha (Jewish traditional law) regarding all memorials practices permitted in our cemeteries. If you wish to make arrangements for a monument or marker to be installed at one of our Member’s cemeteries, you should communicate directly with the monument dealers listed in the tab for Community under Monument Dealers. In accordance with Provincial law, all Bereavement Authority of Ontario levies shall be paid in full before a monument or a marker is installed at the cemeteries; the levy is dependent on the size of the monument or marker.

Unfortunately, we have experienced situations where we are not always advised in advance about monument unveilings. This makes it very difficult for our cemetery staff to prepare for unveilings and direct guests to the gravesite. Also, it is most unfair to the families who do let us know about their plans for an unveiling as another monument unveiling which we did not know about might be right near theirs at the same time. In order to control the site and to provide for the safety and solemnity of unveilings of which we were pre-notified, we reserve the right to prevent or delay access to our cemetery grounds to those groups who have not made pre-arrangements with us in our discretion. If you are considering an unveiling date, you should know that our cemeteries are very busy with unveilings on Sundays in warmer months from 10:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. If it is possible, we suggest either having the unveiling (if it is going to be on a Sunday) at a time before 10:30 a.m. or after 1 p.m.

Bathurst Lawn has no financial involvement with any monument dealer and can make no recommendations with respect to either. Please note however that two or more of the above-noted dealers may be related (to one another) businesses.