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From: Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com>
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Subject: Re: [OT] Ping Adam
Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2024 14:44:58 -0400
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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