Headstone & Burial Costs in Israel: What Bituach Leumi Pays

Rights and amounts checked in September and October 2026 with National Insurance, the Ministry of Defence and the Authority for Holocaust Survivors’ Rights. Amounts are updated; check a figure with the body that pays.

What National Insurance pays: burial fees

National Insurance pays for the burial of anyone who dies in Israel and is buried here, resident or not, and of Israeli residents who die abroad. The money, dmei kvura (burial fees), goes straight to the chevra kadisha, the burial society, so the family never sees it and, for an ordinary burial, fills in no form. It covers the grave, the tahara and shrouds, the burial and local transport, when the burial is in the cemetery of the town where the person lived, as listed in the Population Registry. Someone who did not die in hospital may also be buried free where they died; someone who died in hospital may be buried free only where they lived, unless there is no cemetery there that suits their beliefs, in which case the hospital’s town qualifies too. A calculator on the National Insurance website shows which cemeteries qualify in your case. What happens at the funeral

Civil burial is funded too, under the Right to Alternative Civil Burial Law of 1996: in a civil cemetery or civil section run under that law, National Insurance pays for the burial as it does for a religious one. Not every town has a civil cemetery; where neither the town in which the person died nor the one where they lived has one, and the family has not bought a plot, the transfer to one farther away is paid for as well.

The family pays for a chosen place (the free burial is often in a wall or a multi-storey structure, and a ground grave or a “closed” cemetery costs extra), a plot reserved in life, extras such as linen shrouds or storage in the burial company’s cold room from the second day (from the third if the body arrived on a Friday or the eve of a festival), and the headstone and its foundation.

A death abroad, and non-residents

A resident who dies abroad and is brought home is buried at National Insurance’s expense, though the family usually pays for customs release, the burial permit and transport from the airport; if they are buried abroad, whoever paid can claim a capped refund, provided they are in Israel. Someone who lived and died abroad, even an Israeli citizen, has no right to free burial in Israel.

Does National Insurance refund the headstone?

In most cases, no. The stone and its foundation are not part of the burial fees, and there is no general headstone grant: the family pays the monument maker. National Insurance sets a stone itself only for a person who died alone: someone who died and was buried in Israel, with no parent, spouse, son or daughter in Israel, and no death grant paid for them. The stone is set at National Insurance’s expense by the burial company that handled the burial, no sooner than 45 days after the death (the rule since 1 September 2025), and only if no stone is on the grave yet. A relative who has already set one is not refunded.

The Bituach Leumi death grant

The death grant, ma’anak petira, is a one-off ₪10,514 (from 1 January 2026) after the death of someone who was receiving a National Insurance benefit (old-age, income support, general disability, special services, work injury, survivors’ or Prisoners of Zion); parents of a child on the disabled child benefit receive it too. It goes to the spouse or, failing one, to a child as the law defines one: mainly under 18, so adult children usually do not qualify. It is normally paid automatically; if not, claim at a branch or online.

It is not meant for the headstone, except in one case: if a couple die within 100 days of each other before it is paid, and the first had no child as the law defines one, it goes, on a claim, to whoever bore most of the cost of the stone.

Who does get help with a headstone

• Fallen soldiers and members of the security forces. In a military cemetery or plot the Ministry of Defence sets a uniform stone free of charge by the thirtieth day; the family may add a short personal line at the foot of the grave. A family choosing a civilian cemetery receives the cost of a military stone, ₪5,354 (January 2026), towards its own.
• Victims of hostile acts (terror). National Insurance pays a burial grant that includes the stone, up to a ceiling, and a grave-maintenance grant every five years.
• Holocaust survivors. The spouse of a survivor who received the income-based benefit from the Authority for Holocaust Survivors’ Rights automatically receives ₪2,022 towards the stone; with no spouse, whoever paid applies to the Authority with a receipt. The same applies to disabled veterans of the war against the Nazis on that benefit.
• Organ donors. The National Transplant Centre pays for the stone of a donor who had no family, was a single parent of minor children, or whose parents have a disability recognised by National Insurance.

Bereaved parents and spouses in the first two groups also get help with their own plot and stone. Everyone else pays for the stone themselves.

How much does a headstone cost in Israel?

There is no official price list, so ask two or three monument makers for a written quote for exactly the same design, and compare them line by line. Israel’s burial societies name what drives the price: the type of stone, its size, the cut, the number of words and the engraving. Also check:

• The type of burial. A slab over a wall niche is relatively cheap, because its size is limited; a mikhpela, where a couple lie one above the other, can take one shared stone.
• The material. Granite, Hebron stone, Turkish marble: price the same design in two, and look at stones of each that have stood a few years in the sun.
• A double stone. If one of the couple is living, have the cost of adding the second inscription later written into the quote.
• The inscription. The number of letters affects the price, English ones included. What to write on a headstone
• Foundation and permit. The burial society builds the foundation but may not bill the family for it directly: it is paid through the monument maker, as part of the stone’s price, and the maker also pays for the permit to set the stone.
• The cemetery’s rules. Some cemeteries require uniform stones of a set size. Ask, too, whether a photograph, a second language or a QR plaque is allowed.

What to ask for in the quote

• A final price including VAT, and whether foundation, permit and installation are in it.
• Material, dimensions and how many letters are included, with a proof before engraving.
• When the stone will be in place (if you are planning the unveiling for the shloshim), and what happens if a letter fades or the stone cracks.

Restoring an old stone (repainting faded letters, cleaning, mending a crack) is priced by the job, so get an itemised quote for that too. Military graves, even in civilian cemeteries, are maintained by the Ministry of Defence.

Buying a plot in advance

Many cemeteries sell plots in advance, beside a spouse or in a ground grave. Prices are supervised by the Ministry of Religious Services: dearer outside your town, cheaper for a mikhpela, a wall niche or a place beside a spouse already buried, and often much cheaper than after a death. Tell the family where the papers are, as no register links a death to a plot. Before a burial above an existing grave (kvurat al), the stone is removed.

What does not fit on the stone

A headstone holds a few lines. The story, the photographs and the recordings can live on a memorial page; once it is open, relatives and friends send memories there and the family approves each one. We are also preparing a QR plaque for the headstone that will lead to the page; it is not on sale yet.