Traditional Jewish Burial: The Only Option
I had the honor of being the Guest Speaker at the recent Zayin Adar Chevra Kadisha of Palm Beach County dinner. Below find my remarks for this special occasion.
Welcome to this, The Chevra Kadisha of Palm Beach County dinner on Zayin Adar. It is very special to see this turnout from our Boynton Beach community. Your presence expresses an understanding that the Chevra Kadisha plays an integral role in assuring “death with dignity.” What the Chevra does is the real “death with dignity.”
A speaker customarily should begin with words of praise – “poschin behodo’uh.” This occasion is no different.
Allow me to thank Congregation Anshei Chesed and its leadership for hosting this special event for our community. We are grateful that you have provided this important platform to recognize and remember the birthday and the yahrzeit of Moshe Rabeinu and an opportunity to acknowledge the work of our Chevra Kadisha and Chevras Kadisha everywhere. Traditionally, this seudah is a community-wide celebration. We celebrate the serious, but holy work of the Chevra Kadisha. So, thank you.
On that note, let me be makir tov the great work done by the Chevra Kadisha who, unassumingly and quietly behind the scenes, has conducted hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of taharas in our community. They don’t ask for any fanfare and they volunteer to do this sacred work.
There are several whom I wish to recognize for their hallowed work – Dov Goldman who is the director of the Chevra Kadisha of Palm Beach County, Mordy Strauss, Hannah Rose, Donna Reich, and Miriam Atalli. Dov and Mordy were especially instrumental in making this evening here possible. Please forgive me if I have left others out, but these are individuals I know who, locally, give selflessly to this sanctified melocho. They, and all others, should be regularly lauded for their commitment and for their sacred efforts, often at great personal sacrifice. Of course, these taharas are also carried out under the jurisdiction of our posek, Rabbi Jay Lyons, who, in Palm Beach County, has done everything possible to promote the good work of the Chevra Kadisha and we thank him and his staff for everything they do on its behalf.
Rabbi Lyons also is the director of the newly opened nonprofit cemetery near Lake Worth (beach) which has the express objective of discouraging cremations by offering lower burial costs.
It was a little over a year ago that I raised the question about a Chevra Kadisha dinner or similar event in Boynton Beach on Zayin Adar. In Teaneck, where I lived for 34 years, virtually every major shul had its own Chevra Kadisha and we would rotate every year to a different shul to commemorate Zayin Adar with fasting, davening Mincha with leining Vayechal, followed by Ma’ariv and a Chevra Kadisha break-the-fast dinner.
To my dismay, none took place last year in Boynton Beach. I connected with Mordy Strauss and we were determined to have one this year. While we knew that BRS in Boca Raton has its own Chevra Kadisha dinner, we felt that this community has certainly grown sufficiently in recent years to justify a Chevra Kadisha dinner of its own its own on an ongoing basis.
One of the primary reasons for holding a Chevra Kadisha dinner each year is an important, albeit simple one. This is an important educational opportunity for the community.
So, I have been told repeatedly that tonight I will be “preaching to the choir.” To an extent, this is correct. However, I believe there is much more we, as a Boynton Beach community, can do to carry our important message farther than ever before.
We have an opportunity as participants in the Chevra Kadisha to raise awareness about a critical mitzvah. We have some distinguished funeral directors here tonight who are genuinely concerned with the needs of the community. However, my theme tonight picks upon one element of the funeral industry that should concern each and every one of us. It is the issue of cremations in the Jewish community. And here, tonight, it is an appropriate forum to raise this matter because we – all of us - can carry this message throughout the Boynton Beach community.
Jews are increasingly choosing to be cremated despite Jewish law and years of tradition. Go up and down jog and other streets in our community and you will see for yourself how Jewish sounding funeral homes promote cremations in big, bold letters on their marquee signs. We travel by these every day. They just blend in with all the other signs around us
Cremating a loved one to me also has another connotation. Did we not lose millions of our brethren to the crematoria just 75 years ago during the darkest era in twentieth century history? To me, and I hope to all of us, the idea of cremation and seeing a fellow Jew’s ashes “scattered to the wind” should be an anathema for that reason alone and, of course, as a matter of Halacha.
Nationwide the statistics for cremation are eye opening. The annual report of the National Funeral Directors Association show that 50.2% of Americans chose cremation in 2016, up from 48.5% in 2015 while 43.5% of Americans opted for burial, down from 45.4% in 2015. It is estimated that over the next eight years, cremation rates will likely exceed 50% in 44 states, up from just 16 states in 2010. Keep in mind that cremations have grown significantly just in the last 15 years. In 2002, the national rate was 28.2%.
It has been reported that the Jewish cremation rate in south Florida is about 16% up from 10% twelve years ago. And these numbers are likely low because unaffiliated Jews may find a non-denominational funeral home or cremation site well under the radar of the Jewish funeral directors.
Let’s also keep in mind why cremation rates are escalating. The primary reason is money. The average cremation with a memorial service is $3,250 while the average funeral is $8,755 in 2017, or between $7,000 and $10,000 today.
There are others that say it is not a financial decision. Some people see the physical cemetery as wasteful. They suggest that it is land that could be used for something else. Others don’t like the thought of being buried. Regardless, as cremation rates escalate in the Jewish community, something must be done.
As many of you may know, the number of cremations in the Jewish community has been a matter that Rabbi Elchonon Zohn has put on the forefront of the Chevra Kadisha agenda. Rabbi Zohn is a national leader in the Chevra Kadisha organization. He is the head of the queens Chevra Kadisha, which covers Manhattan, the Bronx, and much of Florida. He also heads the National Association of Chevra Kadisha.
According to Rabbi Zohn: “among Jews across the country it is 40 percent and it is constantly growing. In Dallas and Houston, it is at 50 percent. In California, it is at 70 percent. In New York, it is less, at about 30 percent. New York kind of reduces the national average.” So, we see that it varies according to geographic regions. This is true for all denominations. But, it is still shocking news for the Jewish community. I encourage you to go to Rabbi Zohn’s web site where you will find all kinds of information about this issue.
Scholars today quite generally agree that cremations probably began in any real sense -- around 3,000 B.C.E. -- and most likely in Europe and the near east. Historically, the practice of cremation on open fires was introduced to the western world by the Greeks as early as 1,000 B.C.E. they seem to have adopted cremation from some northern people as an imperative of war, to ensure soldiers slain in alien territory would have a homeland funeral attended by family and fellow citizens. It also was often associated with pagan rituals where the deceased were cremated on open pyres.
I thought it would be worthwhile to go back to the Torah source to understand why we bury and not cremate.
We know that our Avos and Emahos were buried in the Meoras Hamachpela. Rachel Eemeinu was buried by Yaakov in Beis Lechem. Yosef’s bones were taken out of Mitzrayim by Moshe and Bnai Yisrael so that he could be buried in Eretz Yisrael. Aharon and Miriam were buried on the way to Eretz Yisrael. Yet, nowhere early in the Torah is there a commandment to bury until we get to the Torah source for burying the dead. Interestingly enough, it is found toward the end of the Torah in Devarim, Parshas Ki Seitzei, Perek 21, Posuk 23. It is in a fascinating section of the Parasha indicating that if a man committed a sin whose judgment is death – i.e., he is sentenced to death -and he is hung from a tree, the body shall not remain for the night on the wooden beam (the tree), rather “you shall surely bury him on that day” – Rashi states: “Ki kuhvor tikberenu bayom hahu” – for a hanging person is an insult (curse) to g-d – “Ki killelas Elokim tollui.”
Rashi explains further why burial is necessary. “Zilzulo shel Melech hu,” it is a degradation (disgrace) of the king, “sheh odom osui bidmus Deyokno,” for man is made in the likeness of his image” – “VeYisrael heim bonov” and the children of Israel are his children. Rashi offers a perfect analogy. He gives a moshol. This can be compared to twin brothers who resembled each other. One became a king while one became a thief or a bandit and was hung. Whoever would see him hanging would say “the king is hanging.” Hence, the need for burial. The gemoroh in Sanhedrin on 46b goes into further detail and explains through agadeta and much discussion how we arrived at the halachic requirement for burial which stems from this Posuk in the Torah. The Shulchan Aruch also is very clear about how the actual body should be placed in a casket, or even directly into the ground without a casket, as well as various customs surrounding the burial. Cremation is absolutely forbidden in Jewish law in addition to being a travesty to the dignity due to the deceased. As I said before, how we treat the dead is a matter of “death with dignity,” not only during the dying process. Nor is burying the ashes a fulfillment of the mitzvah of burial. This matter is discussed in detail in Igros Moshe by Harav Moshe Feinstein z”l and in the Yoreh Deah.
So, tonight, we are here to remember, to learn and to pay tribute to all of you and all those who have undertaken the responsibilities incumbent on a Chevra Kadisha. While I did not partake in the mitzvah of a tahara, I did act as a Shomer for various individuals when I lived in Teaneck, NJ. Some folks I knew; others I did not know. Shemirah is an important mitzvah too.
When I was up north there were many ways to help the Chevra Kadisha – babysitting services, bringing the seudas havroah to the bereaved, setting up the mourner’s benches in the Shiva home, providing the candle that remains lit during the Shiva period and so on. Here in Boynton Beach the responsibilities are less complex. Either you can be a Shomer and watch over the deceased for a period of time; or you participate in the tahara. Watching requires no skills; conducting a tahara requires some training and this can be arranged.
There are many acts of kindness we do in life – but, perhaps, the ultimate is the chesed shel emes – an act of kindness you can do for someone after their life.
If you are not part of this sacred Chevra and you have any questions about what you can do for the Chevra Kadisha in Boynton Beach, please see Dov Goldman, Mordy Strauss or Donna Reich. I would also urge you to speak to Rabbi Lyons and anyone directly involved in this ultimate act of goodness and kindness to learn how you can be of help whether through shemirah or through a tahara. Thank you.
About the speaker: Norman B. Gildin is a resident of Boynton Beach and for 34 years was formerly a member of the Chevra Kadisha at Congregation Beth Aaron in Teaneck, New Jersey.