A judge in Israel has ruled that cremation is legal in that country.
This has angered many in Israel who believe that cremation is not supported under Biblical law.
I am conversant enough with the Bible to set out its position thus:
The Bible does not expressly recommend cremation, but is instead full of references to burial as the customary practice of the Jews. Contrary to general belief, the expression ‘ashes to ashes, dust to dust’ (which some have used to state the Biblical case for cremation) does not appear anywhere in the Bible. However, the fact that the Bible is silent on cremation as a custom does not necessarily mean it prohibits it.
In the few instances that the Israelites in the Old Testament set fire to bodies, this was generally done after they had invaded a town and killed every living thing. Their express instructions were to kill everyone, man and beast, and then set the bodies on fire, to destroy them utterly. They were also supposed to destroy every inanimate object in the same way. This was one way of enforcing the ’separation’ message to the full, to create a new start untouched by the previous inhabitants of the place, and their possessions. Interesting to note that on one occasion that an Israelite did not follow this instruction, he was himself killed and burned with fire.
Another reason the Israelites of the Old Testament did not cremate was because in some cases, they felt the need to preserve the bones of the deceased. One such example was when Joseph died, after years of living in Egypt. He instructed that his bones be preserved and taken along with the Israelites when they eventually left for the Promised Land.
There is an instance, however, when someone was cremated, and not as a punishment. After the death of Saul, the first king of Israel, his body was retrieved by the people of Jabesh Gilead. They burned his body and buried his bones in Gilead. Biblical scholars have differing views on what seemed to have been an unscriptural practice by these people. They are however agreed on one thing: the Gileadites had acted out of respect for Saul.
My conclusion? The same as the judge’s. The Bible does not prohibit cremation. I understand that quite apart from religious reasons, some Israelis may have objections to cremation because it stirs up memories of the holocaust, but that is another matter.
(I know this topic is well outside the scope of my blog, but I thought it interesting enough to comment on.)
January 4th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
It’s not unlike JC in the gospels never being quoted as keeping the Sabbath, even though he supported the Ten Commandments. I would have thought that cremation in that hot climate would be the better variant.
January 4th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Yes exactly, James. Excellent point about the Sabbath.
I also agree with you about cremation being a better option in that climate.
January 4th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
Burial has always been a custom in both the Jewish and Christian faiths, and like all customs it has become the done thing. It all stems from the notion of the final day of judgement when the dead shall be raised. How can the dead be raised if there aren’t any bodies to be raised as they have all been burned? We know that bodies will decompose to nothing, but in those days the view was different.
I do have one thing to say though. If anyone cremates my body, I will come back to haunt them!
January 4th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Very interesting post, Bel. Here in Sicily people look at me aghast when I tell them that most people now opt for cremation in Britain. Now I can tell them a few Biblical facts! Do you know about Dr William Price [1800-93] of Llantrisant in Wales, by the way? He pioneered cremation and there’s a statue of him in Old Llantrisant to this day.
January 5th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Philippians 3 ends with a promise of a new body fashioned like Jesus’ glorious [post resurrection - I understand] body.
I don’t expect God will have any tougher time just because we’re ash.
January 6th, 2007 at 12:50 am
This story broke here
some time back. Has there been a recent ruling Bel? There was nothing in this weeks Jewish Chronicle about it?
In additon to Andrew’s point, there’s a tradition that one ought to visit the burial grounds of one’s relatives before the High Holy Days.
Someone very close to me has been organising Jewish burials for 45 years. The best bit is the “common sense” approach of paying for your burial over a number of years.
Now a practice adopted by the Chgurch of England I believe.
January 6th, 2007 at 12:51 am
Sorry, from the BBC website in June 2005.
Israel’s first crematorium opens
Israel’s first commercial crematorium has begun operation, in defiance of Jewish taboos on burning human bodies.
The first person cremated was described by the media as a 66-year-old non-Jewish Latvian immigrant.
The director of the Aley Shalechet (Autumn Leaves) funeral home said he gave people “the chance to choose how they want to part from this world”.
Cremation is also frowned on as a reminder of the Holocaust, but burial space is getting scarcer.
Many Israelis have been forced to pay extra to secure graves in preferred cemeteries, even though the government subsidises burial societies.
“Ultimately, it is a matter of economy as much as anything,” said the Aley Shalechet director, Alon Nativ.
“Freedom of choice applies to cost as well.”
A watchtower at the former Nazi death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, 27 January 2005
To many Israelis, the crematoriums serve as reminders of the Holocaust
Mr Nativ said there was “considerable interest” for the services Aley Shalechet provided and a potential market lay with immigrants from the former Soviet Union, many of whom are not Jewish under Orthodox law.
But secular Jews may also show an interest - especially as some of them view the ritual practice of burying Jews in shrouds, rather than caskets, as degrading.
However, the issue remains so sensitive that even the exact location of incinerator, outside the central town of Hadera, is a closely guarded secret, Reuters reported.
Nazi memories
For many Israelis, crematoriums raise images of the ovens used by the Nazis to kill Jews during World War II.
“I think the social taboos that have traditionally adhered to cremation in Israeli society came from a consciousness of the Holocaust,” Jonathan Rosenblum, a spokesman for the Orthodox Jewish community, told Reuters news agency.
The only previous cremation in Israel was of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, in 1962.
“Cremating Eichmann was, in a sense, the Jewish people’s revenge for the fact that six million Jews were not brought to a Jewish burial as a consequence largely of this man,” Mr Rosenblum said.