Re: [OT] Ping Adam

On 2024-10-22 1:38 AM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
 

A question about Jewish policies with respect to interment.

 

I've been under the impression that it is Jewish tradition to bury the
dead within 24 hours of death and that no other approach - e.g.
cremation - is cool.

 

Imagine my surprise when I read a passage in a novel where a main
character who is ethnically Jewish - there is no evidence of him
practicing Judaism in the book - dies suddenly of an apparent cerebral
hemorrhage and his wife tells the captain of the boat they are sailing
on - which she owns - not to go to shore and report to authorities so
they can perform an autopsy. Rather, they are burying him at sea that
same day at sunset. There were absolutely NO suspicious circumstances
and she is most definitely NOT trying to cover anything up.

 

Would such an end be "problematic" in any way - socially, religiously,
etc. - in real life for Jews?

 I have no idea. It's impractical and not always followed. What if people
from out of town need more time to get there? What if the ground is
frozen? In Alaska, burials would wait till spring. It's an "ask the
rabbi" thing.
 

Fair enough. Of course there must be some recognition that burial can't always take place - if no body was found after an accident/murder/disaster - and that sometimes it will have to be delayed. When they eventually find the bodies of those that Hamas killed in captivity, for example, I'm sure all due respects will be paid.

Likely, it was more of a practicality, before refridgeration was
invented and everyone lived in the same place.
 

That makes a lot of sense as a reason for burial becoming the practice. Immediate burial makes sense too as decomposition would be that much faster in a hot climate leading to more risk of disease befalling the living if burial was delayed. But I seem to remember hearing that Jewish religious doctrine strongly prefers a quick burial so the deceased can go to Hashem that much sooner so that may also be a factor.

I recall an episode of Quincy in which it was a plot point that a rabbi
had to sit with the body (because no one else would), so he sat in the
refridgerator.
>

The rabbi couldn't sit and pray *beside* the freezer where it's warmer?

No burials take place on the Sabbath.
 

So there's an extra 24 hour wait if you die just before the Sabbath. Clearly, immediate burial has some built-in exceptions.

Legally, the wife cannot determine for herself that the death wasn't
suspicious, and I don't know how that cause of death would be determined
without autopsy.

Absolutely! The wife happened to be a billionaire and everyone aboard was a close friend AND employee so she knew she wasn't following the law but they were more interested in pleasing her that observing the law. Obviously that was legally problematic but I was curious whether burial at sea was a problem for Judaism.
I could imagine a lifelong fisherman declaring to his family that he wanted to be buried at sea. I also feel sure that any number of Jews have drowned at sea whether swimming or from being in shipwrecks or torpedoed vessels with the bodies never found. I have trouble imagining a religion declaring that they will never be with Hashem because they weren't buried in the ground but then I could be wrong....
--
Rhino