Hi, Glenn,
Our rabbis here are very comfortable with the concrete vaults without a liner, as that way they remain porous and meet the requirement for “returning to dust,” in the decomposition process. While our Reform Rabbis may not have an issue with this, we keep it simple and do not allow the liner.
Hope that is helpful,
David Harris

Hi Glenn,
We’ve never had anyone inquire about this yet so I’m interested what others on this thread will have to say.

Lisa Vaeth

Hi Glenn,
We have used both, depending on the cemetery. The benefit of using the concrete vaults for JCAM has been that the concrete essentially eliminates the risk of the grave sinking or caving in. As I am sure you know, graves can sink or cave in even a few months after interment. We find here in Massachusetts that a high water table can also impact whether a grave sinks or not. The concrete vaults seem to make a difference even in a situation where there is a high water table and the graves are “wet.” Among our 125 cemeteries, the ones that use concrete liners have little to no problem with graves sinking or caving in, even after many years.

I can also say that our caretakers do prefer concrete liners.

I hope that this helps.

Jamie Cotel