By Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel
CHULA VISTA, California — Jewish tradition has long frowned upon the practice of cremation—especially given the history of the Holocaust, where millions of Jews met their fate in the crematoria, such as my grandparents and their families. About the ancient worship of Moloch, the Canaanite deity associated with death, who was the Semitic version of Hades, the Scriptures warn, “No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire” (Deut. 18:10)
The horrific imagery of such child sacrifices found in the Midrashic literature that is cited by R. David Kimchi (14th century), who describes how the ritual occurred: An image of Moloch was made out of brass and was hollow. A fire was kindled within the idol. When the extended hands became hot, Moloch’s priest taking the infant from its father’s hand, placed it in the deity’s hands to the accompaniment of drums to prevent the father from hearing the screams of his dying offspring. [1]
Archaeological evidence revealing the skeletons of infants near pagan shrines, suggest that human sacrifice may have been transplanted to Canaan from Carthage, Sardinia, Sicily, and the Greek islands, and later spread to Canaan via the Phoenicians.[2] Not all scholars agree on this point.
So it is with surprise, one of Israel’s leading Modern Orthodox Rabbis, Kenneth Brander, who is the dean of the Israeli Ohr Torah Stone network of institutions, came out with an unexpected ruling: bodies infected by the coronavirus ought to be cremated in order to save the life of the living. One such person in Buenos Aires was cremated despite protests from his community. This ruling applies only when the government demands that cremations take place for the health of the public. In places like Italy or Britain, the governments there have made an exception to the faith communities.[3]
Ever since the pandemic started, most Jewish communities temporarily discontinued with the traditional taharah (ritual bathing of the corpse). Physicians point out that the virus lives on in the infected person’s blood and bodily fluids. However, many communities that continue to prepare the body in accordance with Judaic tradition, do so while wearing protecting clothing and operate in smaller groups, utilizing a disinfectant when washing the bodies.
Given the seriousness and potential for contagion, there is good reason in my opinion to cremate. One scriptural antecedent derives from the Book of Amos 6:10, which reads:
· And if a relative, one who burns the dead, shall take up the body to bring it out of the house, and shall say to someone in the innermost parts of the house, “Is anyone else with you?” the answer will come, “No.” Then the relative shall say, “Hush! We must not mention the name of the LORD!
According to R. David Kimchi’s interpretation, this case might have been due to exceptional circumstances, as in the case of a pandemic. Cremation would have been the most sanitary way to keep disease from spreading. [4] But it is also possible that in Amos’ time, cremation did not have a negative stigma, the burning of the body was considered a sacred duty—one that fell upon the closest of kin, either the uncle, or the mother’s brother who was called the מסרף “one who burns” (Shalom Paul)
However, the NJPS translation reads the text differently:
· And if someone’s kinsman — who is to burn incense for him — comes to carry the remains out of a house, and he calls to the one at the rear of the house, “Are there any alive besides you?” he will answer, “No, none.” And he will say, “Hush!” — so that no one may utter the name of the LORD.
Based on this reading, Amos might have been referring to the custom of burning aromatic spices in honor of the dead or to the practice of burning corpses at the time of a plague in order to restrict the danger of infection. Some Halakhic scholars ruled that an alternative to burial is to use quicklime to hasten decomposition of the body after death from the plague to prevent contagion.[5]
Parenthetically let us add:
As far as the burial of ashes from a cremation, even when a pandemic is not a factor, traditional Jewish communities have permitted the ashes of a person to be buried in a Jewish cemetery. Since the 19th century, some traditional cemeteries might decline accepting the ashes as a deterrent to would be violators of Jewish law. However, there is nothing in the Halakhah that prohibits burying Jewish ashes in a cemetery.
Note that nowhere in the Talmud is cremation even discussed. It is interesting to add that among the ancient Jewish ossuaries, urns with ashes have been found. But we cannot tell whether the ashes might have merely been the remains of someone who died in a fire, or not.
On the other hand, it has been asserted by some authorities that burial is merely a custom (“minhag”), and that no serious objection can be brought against cremation. It reads, “When Isaac pleaded with his father on Mount Moriah, he said, ‘Burn me completely, and bring my ashes to my mother that she place them in an urn in her own room, and that whenever she enters the room she may remember me with tears.’”[6]
Chief Rabbi Herman Adler (1839-1911), of Great Britain, considers cremation a violation of Jewish law and custom; but he permits the “Lewayah” at the burying of the remains (ib. xliii. 394). This is a policy that should adhered to everywhere.
For those determined to conduct the taharah in any event, they would be wise to wear protective clothing and use disinfectants as much as is necessary.
NOTES:
[1] The Commentary of Rabbi David Kimchi on 2 Kings 23:10.
[2] The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus describes how common was the practice of child sacrifice in Phoenicia and her colonies (xx. 14). He notes that in one siege, the Carthaginians sacrificed 200 boys to Kronos. Other Greek and Roman authors wrote extensively about the practice of sacrificing children as burnt offerings in Phoenicia and the Punic colonies of N. Africa, and especially in the ruins of the Phoenician city of Carthage, located in North Africa. It is there archaeologists discovered the remains of hundreds of children sacrificed to the goddess Tanit and the god Baal-Hammon. (L. E. Stager and S. R. Wolff, BAR 10/1 [1984] 31–51). Other Phoenician sanctuaries or sacrificial precincts have been discovered on Sicily and Sardinia, one which contains a cremation pit full of burnt matter (cf. G. Moore, “The Image of Moloch,” in JBL, 1897, xvi. 161; et seq.; M. J. Lagrange; Donald Harden, The Phoenicians, London: Thames & Hudson, 1962, pp. 94–104; A. R. W. Green, The Role of Human Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East [Missoula, MT: Scholars Press. 1975] esp. 173–87);W. F. Albright, YHWH and the Gods of Canaan, Garden City: Doubleday, 1968, pp. 234–244).
[3] https://www.timesofisrael.com/state-mandated-cremation-a-posthumous-mitzvah-says-leading-orthodox-rabbi/
[4] R, Ḳimcḥi’s Com. ad loc; comp. ס״ השרשים, (s.v. מסרף).
[5] See R. Solomon b. Adret, Responsum No. 369; Moses Isserles to Yoreh De‘ah, 363, 2). Responsa She’vut Yaakov 2:97. See also Chatam Sofer, YD 2:334.
[6] Midrash Wayasha‘ (cited in Jellinek, “Bet ha-Midrash,” 1:37).
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Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel is spiritual leader of Temple Beth Shalom in Chula Vista. He may be contacted via michael.samuel@sdjewishworld.com