Jewish law forbids human composting, but for some Jews it’s the way to go
New York state could soon legalize the practice, which proponents tout as an ecologically responsible choice
Burial
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News They lost pregnancies or infants. Now, Israeli parents want access to burials that have long been secret
JERUSALEM – Ten years ago, Aliza and Netanel Fenichel and their young children were in a car accident. Aliza, who was 25 weeks pregnant and badly injured, underwent an emergency cesarean section to save her life, and her unborn son’s. The boy weighed about a pound and a half and died the same day. “When…
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News An unveiling without a headstone? A shortage challenges grieving families
Funerals during the pandemic are tough enough, with many bereaved families unable to invite more than a handful of relatives for fear of spreading COVID-19. But now, a new obstacle challenges mourners: a national shortage of headstones. Jewish families who held small funerals were hoping to have more normal unveilings a year later. But now…
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Israel News Jews are paying up to $650K for private jets to fly their dead relatives to Israel
After Chaya Nechama Ungar survived the Holocaust, she was urged by her brother-in-law to marry Rabbi Yekusiel Yehudah Halberstam, a Hasidic leader known as the Sanzer Rebbe. She had heard about Halberstam: He had survived Auschwitz, where his first wife and nine children had perished; he was so pious that, while living in a displaced…
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Yiddish World Free burial society buys refrigerated trailer to hold pandemic’s backlog of bodies
Read this article in Yiddish. The non-profit organization that provides free, traditional burials for the Jewish poor has had to buy a massive trailer to manage the high volume of deaths caused by the coronavirus pandemic. It holds more than a dozen bodies, and the organization doesn’t have enough people or time to bury them…
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Yiddish World Coronavirus-related deaths on the rise among the Jewish poor
Read this article in Yiddish A New York-based burial society has applied for emergency funding as it races to keep up with steep increases in the cost of coronavirus-related personal protective equipment, additional grave openings and new personnel to arrange funerals. The 132-year-old Hebrew Free Burial Association, which arranges burials for indigent Jews, expects to…
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Fast Forward Pittsburgh Victims Were Part Of Jewish Group That Prepares Dead For Burial
One victim murdered and one who remains in the hospital following Saturday’s mass shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh were members of the chevra kadisha, an organization of Jewish men and women called upon to ensure that deceased Jewish bodies are properly prepared to be buried. Jerry Rabinowitz died in the rampage and Dan Leger…
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Fast Forward British High Court Orders London Coroner To Prioritize Jewish, Muslim Burials
(JTA) — Britain’s High Court has ordered a London coroner to respect the religious beliefs of the deceased’s family when determining the order in which bodies can be buried. Senior coroner Mary Hassell had announced that she would not prioritize Jewish and Muslim burials over others, despite the fact that Jewish and Islamic law requires…
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