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Posted on 06/22/2005 7:48:17 PM PDT by Alouette
For the first time in Israel a crematorium, which is strictly prohibited by halochoh [Jewish religious law], has been installed.
The crematorium, set up by a company called Alei Shalechet (Leaves of Fall), was used to burn the body of a non-Jew last week, but many fear secular Jews as well will ask to have their bodies burned.
This serious breach is liable to undermine the belief in the eternity of the soul and the concept of kovod hameis [respect for the remains of the dead], which have been firmly entrenched in the Jewish people since time immemorial and manifested in instances of great mesirus nefesh [self-sacrifice] to recover and transport Jewish corpses under extreme conditions in order to provide a proper burial.
One reporter wrote, "Despite the explanations I could not avoid the unpleasant associations [from the Holocaust period] at the sight of the flame blazing inside the furnace. It was not easy to watch the process."
Numerous efforts have been made by various public representatives and organizations to appeal to figures in a position to intervene and put an immediate halt to the development.
According to ZAKA, Alei Shalechet is hiding the location of the crematorium, apparently because it does not have government permission or a business license.
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I can understand how the concept of a crematorium would be distressing to those who remember (or have studied) the Holocaust.
Fire cannot stop the Creator's power and will. Anyone who believes otherwise will find out shortly Who is behind, yet involved in, the creation.
No one is forcing Jews to use the crematorium. Cremation has been used since the beginning of time and will continue.
True. No one forces people to use drugs either. They have been around for a long time also.
It appears from your post you know more about that than you're letting on.
bump with no comment
OK, where is the story how the the Israeli's are planning to use this for the Palestinians? You just know it is coming. NY Times is probably anxiously waiting for it.
Just try to stop several thousand years from turning a body to dust .... go on I dares ya....
You might end up with a piece of overtly tough, formerly human shaped jerky, nothing more.
"""Cremation has been used since the beginning of time and will continue."""
Isn't cremation against Christian law?
I think so.
What "Christian law"? I believe you are incorrect.
This seems to be a non-sequitor. I'm not arguing in favor of cremation, but how does it undermine the belief in the eternity of the soul?
Well Catholics are not allowed to cremate. It's something about being reunited with your body on judgement day. ( Why decomposition in a grave retains a better body then cremation is another issue).
However, like divorce & birth control most Catholics ignore this law these days.
Catholics are allowed to cremate.
Cremation has been permitted for Roman Catholics since 1963, although the Church still officially encourages burial.
The idea of a crematorium in Israel is particularly repugnant, not only because it is in violation of Jewish law, but because of the association with the Holocaust.
Unfortunate hardly describes this.
Jews are not supposed to cremate, donate organs, tatoo or otherwise desecrate their bodies.
Hence, I recall being completely baffled this story:
From the Houston Chronicle, June 10
"Two daughters have sued a synagogue after they found a potato chip can in place of their mother's remains behind the locked, glass door of her niche in a mausoleum.
When the women visited Vivian Shulman Lieberman's niche in a Houston mausoleum a year ago, they found the cedar chest containing her ashes missing and a can of sour-cream-and-onion potato chips in its place."
Put me someplace where my remains can provide fertile soil for a nice leafy tree. Nothing will grow from mere ashes.
The mausoleum was operated by Houston reform temple.
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