Funerals to be broadcast on Web in Israel

"The Kadisha company hopes the new service will make life easier," the Hebrew news Web site Ynet wrote, apparently without irony, meaning the webcast funeral will come with a much more manageable price tag than more traditional ceremonies.

"The company intends to charge ... a populist price for the live broadcast funerals," Avraham Mordechai Manala, the chief executive officer of Kadisha, told Ynet. "(A price) that covers only the funeral."

Manala said the service would be available in the next few days. Launching the broadcast Web site involved an investment of more than $110,000, though "spending (this much money) is just one of the general reforms the new management is undertaking for the public's benefit," company Chairman Reuben Wasserman told the news site.

Kadisha serves 22 cities and towns in central Israel, according to the report, and lays some 8,000 people to rest each year.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International