An emergency discussion in the office of Maran Rishon Lezion HaGaon Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef Shlita, attended by Minister of Religious Services Rabbi Michael Malkieli, Director General Yehuda Avidan and representative of the Chief Rabbinate Rabbi Yaakov Roger, took place today (Tuesday). The discussion dealt with the serious questions that arise in the treatment of identifying the murdered and bringing them for burial.
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At the end of the hearing, Maran issued a letter in which he responded in writing to the substantive questions that arose in the discussion and regarding which a clear and quick halachic decision was required.
Serious violation of the dignity of a dead person
The first question dealt with the families' request to ease the identification process in order to bring their loved ones to burial as quickly as possible:
"It is clear that with all the immense pain, bodies should never be released for burial without absolute and certain identification. On the contrary, the dignity of the deceased requires certain identification both from a halachic point of view, from a suspicion of anchoring and from a pathological point of view, and one should not rush to bury without this identification," Maran replied Rishon LeZion.
Rishon LeZion, Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Another question that arose during the discussion was whether to allow the temporary burial of the murdered from the communities near the Gaza Strip, in view of the security danger of holding funerals with many participants in these communities:
"Here it is clear that, to the extent possible, there is in no way a solution of temporary burial, even if by doing so the funerals will be very limited with a quorum of people or some family members are in captivity and cannot participate, because there are many obstacles, many problems, and a serious violation of the dignity of the deceased and his deceased."
At the end of his letter, Rishon LeZion noted that he closely monitored the tremendous activity of the ministry regarding the handling of the bodies of the murdered, by the minister and director general of his ministry, Yehuda Avidan, working together with the chairman of the Committee for the Honor of the Dead and a representative of the Chief Rabbinate, Rabbi Yaakov Roger Shlita.
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