Why is it so important for Jews to bury our dead?
We don’t wish to cause pain for the many people whose loved ones were cremated. We too have a relative who, unfamiliar with Jewish law, was cremated based on his own instructions. But it’s a mistake and here’s why.
Jewish law is unequivocal. Cremation is prohibited. Burial is obligatory. This is expressly commanded in the Bible, Deuteronomy 21:23, where even a person sentenced to execution receives a proper burial. Non-Jews are not obligated to be buried, but it is considered praiseworthy.
Don’t pursue cremation because you think it will be less trouble for your family. Cost is not a factor, because the Jewish community will step up and pay for burial whenever a family can’t afford it. There are many free burial societies which exist to make sure every Jew gets a proper burial. Whether or not the deceased was religiously observant is irrelevant.
So why is Torah law so emphatic on this issue? It’s important to understand that we don’t have souls. We ARE souls. We have bodies. A dead person’s body was the holy vessel that carried his or her soul through a lifetime. Incinerating that body disrespects the vessel that enabled that person to do all the good things he or she did in this world.
After death, the soul enters the World of Truth – the afterlife – and cremation causes extreme pain to that soul who watches the body that held it consigned to flames. Even if you promised your parent to cremate, you are obligated to break this promise. And the Fifth Commandment – honor your parents – does not include violating Jewish law.
Our Sages teach that one who willingly pursues cremation will not be resurrected in the Messianic age and receives a different, lesser portion in the eternal World of Truth. It should be noted that this consequence does not apply to those martyred and cremated in the Holocaust or any other attack, because those souls did not choose that outcome. The Germans actually burned Jewish bodies in the Holocaust, even when it would have been more efficient to dump them in mass graves, because it is such an affront to the Jewish soul.
Now you might be thinking, “Sal, those are just your beliefs. I’m not a religious Jew and I don’t care about Jewish law.” But if you’re incorrect the stakes could not be higher.
Rabbi Avigdor Miller taught that to be a good person, one must have the humility and honesty to constantly ask oneself, “What if I’m wrong?” If you have yourself cremated because you think it makes no difference and you’re wrong, what have you lost? Something beyond calculation.
Now let’s ask, what if our 3,500 year old tradition is wrong? And generations of Sages are wrong? And I’m wrong? And you nevertheless take my advice and have yourself buried. What have you lost? Nothing. And what do you gain by partaking in the last rite and the last right of a Jew? People who care about you will have the comfort of a beautiful and ancient graveside ceremony and they’ll have a place to visit where they can feel close to you.
My friend, please don’t disrespect the body that carries your soul through this world, the body you received from your Creator as a precious gift. Be humble instead and allow your body to be planted in the earth like a seed rather than destroyed by fire like refuse.
Dedicated in loving memory of David ben Leib Chaim.
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