Question:
As the executor of my mother’s estate, I can legally get reimbursed for the fee I paid to the chevra kadisha ($1,200). But the mitzvah is most important to my husband and I. Is the mitzvah for making arrangements or is the payment also part of it? We would forego the money before foregoing the Mitzvah.
Thank you.
Answer:
Hamakom yinachem eschem btoch shar aveilei tzion v’yerushalayim.
The expenses for the burial etc. come from the inheritance of the deceased. The children etc. have a mitzva to make the arrangements, but they don’t have the obligation to pay for it unless of course the parent doesn’t have the money for it.
Sources:
Y:d 348-2
