Schwartz Brothers-Jeffer Memorial Chapels in Forest Hills, Queens and sister chapel, Riverside-Nassau North Chapels in Great Neck have entered into an agreement to serve Sinai Chapels’ families, beginning April 8, following the decision to sell the real estate and close the Sinai Chapels building on Horace Harding Expressway in Fresh Meadows.
Michael Resnick, the long-time President of Sinai Chapels, will serve as a consultant to Schwartz Brothers and Riverside-Nassau North. This agreement ensures that the Jewish community of Queens and its surrounding areas will continue to have the Resnick family’s commitment of providing attentive, quality services that reflect Jewish funeral traditions and customs and honor loved ones with compassionate care.
“My family and I are deeply committed to New York’s Jewish community,” said Resnick. “It is deeply important to me that our community will be well cared for in their time of need. Schwartz Brothers provides the high-quality services that Sinai Chapels has been committed to providing for four generations. I made this decision with great care and effort and am confident that Schwartz Brothers and Riverside-Nassau North Chapels are the perfect fit to accommodate the families who have relied on Sinai Chapels for many years.”
Said Resnick, “I recently sold the Sinai Chapels building. As I thought about the future and how Sinai’s families would best be served, Schwartz Brothers-Jeffer Memorial Chapels and Riverside-Nassau North Chapels came to mind. Schwartz Brothers and Riverside-Nassau North have served Queens and the surrounding community in New York with distinction for generations and are a part of the Dignity Memorial network, which is the largest network of fine funeral homes in the United States. Knowing that they have the experience to serve Sinai’s families and the affiliate network to support those services gave me confidence that those with Sinai Chapels’ Pre Plans would be best served in Schwartz Brothers and Riverside-Nassau North’s care.”
Resnick stated, “As we started to work through a transition that would best serve Sinai’s families, the team at Schwartz Brothers and Riverside-Nassau North and I got to know each other well. I could see that they really understood the uniqueness of the Jewish funeral home business and especially understood how to care for families in their time of need. We share a philosophy of compassion and careful attention to detail. I am honored that these fine funeral chapels have asked me to remain involved and serve as a consultant.”
Resnick further stated, “I am pleased that many of Sinai’s licensed and experienced funeral directors are now working at Schwartz Brothers and Riverside-Nassau North. They will continue to provide the same level of care and compassion that Sinai’s families are accustomed to receiving.”
All pre-need contracts written through Sinai Chapels will be honored by Schwartz Brothers, Riverside-Nassau North Chapels as well as other providers in the Dignity Memorial network, depending on a family’s desires.
Families will primarily be served at Schwartz Brothers-Jeffer Memorial Chapels at 114-03 Queens Blvd in Forest Hills, located approximately 3 miles from the former Sinai Chapels building.
Schwartz Brothers-Jeffer Memorial Chapels specializes in Jewish funeral traditions and is currently completing a multi-million dollar renovation.
“At Schwartz Brothers-Jeffer Memorial Chapels and Riverside-Nassau North Chapels, we specialize in and work with all movements in the Jewish faith: Orthodox, Conservative and Reform,” said Doug Familia, general manager of Schwartz Brothers. “As the largest Jewish-specialty funeral home in the area, we are uniquely prepared to serve the clients of Sinai Chapels and are honored that Michael Resnick selected us to care for the families he and his family have served for many decades. We are committed to providing the level of service these families expect and deserve.”
Sinai Chapels has a long history of philanthropy and serving the Jewish Community and its organizations. This has included the support of the Queens College Center for Jewish Studies annual Kristallnacht Commemoration and Recommitment to Combatting Anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred, the Kupferberg Holocaust Center at Queens Community College, UJA-Federation of New York, and the Queens Jewish Community Council.
“Schwartz Brothers and Riverside-Nassau North share the Resnick family’s long-time commitment to New York’s Jewish Community and looks forward to continuing to support these vitally important organizations and their important events,” said Bill O’Brien, managing director of the New York territory for the area’s Dignity Memorial funeral homes.
Sinai Chapels Inc.’s investment banker was Howard Kahn of Pivot Point Securities, LLC, affiliated with broker-dealer Old City Securities, LLC. Brian Socolow, a Partner at Loeb & Loeb, served as legal counsel to Sinai Chapels.