Questions tagged [funeral-burial-levaya]
Questions pertaining to the funeral/burial process in Judaism
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Releasing terrorists in exchange for remains of past victims
What would be a halachik justification for mediating a deal involving releasing terrorists, who may well murder more victims, in exchange for remains of past victims?
Related: Why is the head of the ...
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Gravesite Kaddish
I have noticed at funerals that some people face the grave while saying Kaddish and at others face a different direction.
Is there a reason for it for both ways?
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Burial traditions and teffilin usage traditions
Was it a Jewish tradition in the First Century to bury a man with donned tefillin? I am asking since I am curious if it was possible that Jesus had donned tefillin before he was crucified, and ...
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What to do with detached/seperated hair of the deceased?
In Western culture, giving a lock of hair to a loved one used to be a common practice. According to halakhah, may the recipient of a lock of hair continue to posses it after the death of the giver?
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Apparently "above-ground mausoleums" are forbidden for burying the dead in Judaism, but what about underground mausoleums or underground tombs?
According to this relatively short article on the Chabad.org website, it seems that "above-ground mausoleums" are forbidden for burying the dead, but what about underground mausoleums or ...
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How is a funeral held without a minyan?
This issue especially concerns the reading of Kaddish after Ha-Kvura.
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Human Composting - Implications for Kohanim
In recent news, Washington State, has becomes the first state ever to allow human composting.
The question has already been raised in this forum: "Is there a halachic objection to human composting?"
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Burying in the same grave space
What halachic rules (or minhagim) apply to burying more than one person in a single grave space, in other words one coffin on top of another? Is it permissible for husband and wife, or father/son or ...
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How do we reconcile the 2 burial places of Rachel?
Rachel's burial place is located south of Jerusalem, near Bethlehem (in the territory of Judah) by Gen 48:7. But it is located north of Jerusalem (Zelzah/Ramah) in the territory of Benjamin by 1 ...
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What prayers and psalms are read during shmira near the body of the deceased?
Of particular interest are the prayers and the order of reading the psalms in Nusach Ashkenaz.
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Does Being Buried next to Christians Affect the Soul of a Ben/Bat Noach?
I asked this question once and never got an answer and part of it is because historically the only reasons why Gentiles approached the Jewish community was either to convert them or for blood libels. ...
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Just how overpriced was Efron's burial cave anyway?
In B'reishit 23 Avraham pays 400 shekels to Efron for the cave of Machpelah. This seems to be an enormous amount of money and Rashi suggests it's even worse than it appears (referring to larger ...
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Halachot of burial vs. minhagim thereof
This answer gives a rough estimate that about 90 percent of hilchot kevura (laws of burial) are based on local minhag, rather than actual halacha. Taking this into account, the next logical conclusion ...
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In what year were the Jews in Beitar killed? In what year were they allowed to be buried?
Wondering how many years were they not allowed to be buried for. What year were they finally allowed?
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Jerusalem Sand at a Burial
I just observed an on-line remote funeral service for my cousin. As part of the service, the Rabbi took out a bag of sand which he said was specially flown in from Jerusalem. He spread the sand in the ...
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Were there rabbinic objections when grave digging went from manually-powered to machine?
There are lots of responsa when matza-baking machines were introduced instead of everyone doing it by hand. When power machinery came up to make grave-digging faster/easier, did any rabbis object that ...
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Attending a Christian Funeral in a church
Is it permissible for a Jew to attend a Christian funeral service? Specifically, in a church?
If so, is it a serious breach of Jewish law? How serious? How can one perform redemption for such a breach?...
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Attending Non-Jewish funerals
Is it permissible to attend a "wake" with a an open casket for a non-Jew held in a funeral home, not a church?
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What fabric maybe used for Tachrichim?
What fabric may be used for tachrichim (burial shrouds)?
This is purely not practical halacha, just discussing this question with a friend.
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Re-using non-Jewish tombstones
Previously I had a question about desecrating Jewish gravestones, but now I would have one in the opposite direction. In Christian cemeteries it's fairly common to dismantle graves after a few decades ...
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Miriam's Death in the Midbar
Why wasn't Miriam's body taken to Eretz Yisrael for burial when she died?
In her merit, the well followed B'Nei Yisrael in the desert. She saved Moshe by taking care of him as a baby in the Nile River....
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Maaneh Lashon - Book
My grandfather used to use this book when he was alive to daven at the cemeteries of his relatives each year.
https://i.stack.imgur.com/RMNwb.jpg
(The first pages are different but the rest looks ...
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Cutting up the concubine of Gibeah
I've been learning Prophets on the Shabbat, and honestly, I was quite disturbed by the violent fate of the concubine of Gibeah. But even worse, the poor woman was cut up into 12 pieces by a Levite ...
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Has Yakov set a pattern that when planning is possible, we should value more being buried with our parents rather than with our cherished spouse?
In Genesis 49: 30 - 33 (Sefaria)
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בַּמְּעָרָ֞ה אֲשֶׁ֨ר בִּשְׂדֵ֧ה הַמַּכְפֵּלָ֛ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר עַל־פְּנֵי־מַמְרֵ֖א בְּאֶ֣רֶץ כְּנָ֑עַן אֲשֶׁר֩ קָנָ֨ה אַבְרָהָ֜ם אֶת־הַשָּׂדֶ֗ה מֵאֵ֛ת עֶפְרֹ֥ן הַחִתִּ֖י ...
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On tunneling to Israel after death
I don't understand this passage in the Talmud:
The righteous outside of Eretz Yisrael will be resurrected and roll [until they reach Eretz Yisrael]… Rabbi Abba Salla Rava strongly objects to this: ...
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Heter for Embalming Yaakov
How could Yosef order the Egyptians to embalm Yaakov, (Bereishis 50:2) וַיְצַו יוֹסֵף אֶת-עֲבָדָיו אֶת-הָרֹפְאִים, לַחֲנֹט אֶת-אָבִיו; וַיַּחַנְטוּ הָרֹפְאִים, אֶת-יִשְׂרָאֵל) especially in light of ...
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What became of Hevel's body?
We read of his fate but we are not told if he was buried or who may have buried him. We can presume Adam and Chava grieved and gave his body a resting place but that is speculation. Is there drash ...
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Looking for tzaddikim who didn't disintegrate after burial
Can someone lead me to some true/verified stories of tzadikim who were unearthed from their place of burial and were found to be completely intact?
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Shiva and Cremation
In the event that a deceased individual is willfully cremated, a common p'sak I have heard many times is that the relatives do not sit Shiva as one normally does for the deceased. In particular, ...
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Above ground burial
Is an above-ground burial halachically acceptable? For example, I've seen multi-story graves that look like a parking garage and tombs that are carved into the side of a mountain.
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How do you halachically preserve a body if the ground is frozen?
Typically, traditional Jewish burial law calls for a speedy burial in the ground, with no embalming or other unnatural preservation of the body. But what about if the ground is too frozen? Nowadays, ...
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Allowance for cremation if no space in Jewish cemetery?
Is it permissible to be cremated if one does not have space for burial in a cemetery?
Source, please.
Note: Not related to recent events (ie coronavirus).
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Is cremation halachically lawful for the Gentiles?
I am an Italian noahide.
I wonder if Halakhah allows Gentiles to cremate bodies. My personal opinion is that this practice does not violate Noahide Laws, as it is not included in one of the relevant ...
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Allowances for Cremation [duplicate]
Are there any Jewish sources that permit cremation? Jews generally frown upon cremation since the body was created by G-d and should be treated with respect (out of respect for G-d). However, some ...
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How was Rabbi Yochanan allowed to walk with his son's bone?
It says in Brachos 5B that R' Yochanan used to show people his tenth son's bone (all of his children passed away, and he used to carry a bone of his tenth child).
How was he allowed to not bury this ...
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Why doesn’t mes mitzvah push aside shabbos?
If mes mitzvah is doche avoda and avoda is doche shabbos. Shouldn’t mes mitzvah be doche shabbos? Simple logic
If A is greater than B and B is greater than C
Logic dictates that A is greater than C....
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Looking for compilation of Burial halachot & minhagim
Based on what I have read on this site and heard from a rav, the majority of what most people currently do during burial is minhag rather than halacha.
Is there a written or online compilation of ...
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Is it OK to mummify a corpse?
בראשית נ ב-ג
וַיְצַ֨ו יוֹסֵ֤ף אֶת־עֲבָדָיו֙ אֶת־הָרֹ֣פְאִ֔ים לַחֲנֹ֖ט אֶת־אָבִ֑יו
וַיַּחַנְט֥וּ הָרֹפְאִ֖ים אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ וַיִּמְלְאוּ־לוֹ֙
אַרְבָּעִ֣ים י֔וֹם כִּ֛י כֵּ֥ן יִמְלְא֖וּ יְמֵ֣י ...
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Could a Cohen burn a body to escape the impurity?
Excuse the extreme hypothetical, but:
If a Cohen were locked in a room with no windows and a dead body, and just so happened to have lighter fluid and a pack of matches (and there were small holes in ...
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In Avraham's story, what's the importance of his burial place, Meoras hamachpeila?
The Torah spends a couple of pages describing Avraham's desire to [be buried and] bury Sarah in a particular place - the Cave of the patriarchs. I find it difficult to comprehend this desire.
After ...
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Is there a Halacha that sons may not be present at the burial of their parents?
Is there a Halacha that sons may not be present at their parents' burial? I've heard that if the sons wasted seed (G-d forbid) negative forces are created which would be detrimental at the burial site ...
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(Why) May a Beit Din refuse to bury a body in order to coerce a man into giving a divorce?
I read recently of a case where a Rabbi (I assume as head of a Beit Din) instructed a Jewish burial society not to bury the body of a woman who is the mother of a man who refuses to give his wife a ...
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Can a Jew who dies on Mars be buried there?
Recently, the news has been talking about sending people on a 1-way trip to Mars.
AFAIK, no Jews have applied or are scheduled to make the trip. B"H, because I see all sorts of interesting halachic ...
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If a condition to bury someone's body wasn't upheld, is one allowed to exhume the body?
A follow up to this recent question "(Why) May a Beit Din refuse to bury a body in order to coerce a man into giving a divorce?" where a Jewish burial society was instructed to not bury the body of a ...
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Egg shell and pottery for a dead person?
A Shabbat guest told me that he had heard that there is a custom to put a cracked egg shell on a dead person's eyes and a piece of pottery in the dead person's mouth prior to burial.
I'm completely ...
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Is one allowed to attend a wake for a Jew?
As far as I understand, Jews are not allowed to have a wake for a Jewish person. But, let's say for some reason, they do it, anyway. Is a Jew allowed to attend this event if s/he doesn't view the ...
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Is it permitted to call the police on Shabbos if you come across a dead person?
Violating the Shabbos in a case a life threatening situation is a mitzvah (Yoma 84)
However what if one comes across a dead person on Shabbos. Normally one would report this to the police. However on ...
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Can a village / shtetl rabbi require the merchants to close their shops for a funeral?
I'm trying to help a co-worker decipher some history about his great grandfather.
He showed me a picture of a poster - notice written in Hebrew that announced the funeral of his great grandfather. In ...
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Is one obligated in a promise to do an issur made pekuach nefesh?
Chaim has an exotic disease for which the only possible cure is an experimental drug.
The drug company will permit him to enter the study as long as he agrees that if he dies, he releases his body for ...
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Burial with Geniza
I once heard a Rav say that one way in which he disposes of his stash of Geniza is to bury it with the deceased if the family allows. He claimed that it was a segula (I can’t recall his source). I ...
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