This Week

wl
onfronting Disaster
lialachically

Israeli forensics expert helps New York
terror survivors follow Jewish law.

Jews are victims of disaster, ter-
ror-induced or otherwise.
Bikur Cholim of Borough
Park, Brooklyn, a burial society
in association with Rabbi Jack
Meir, called upon Levinson
days after the World Trade
Center disaster to create a sys-
tem for serving New York's
Jewish victims, whose numbers
remain unknown. Four Israeli
citizens have so far have been
confirmed dead. Levinson has
spent the week in offices pro-
vided by Rabbi Meir, helping
organize and administer a
response to the disaster.

Legal Requirements

.KATY MCLAUGHLIN

Jewish Renaissance Media

Brooklyn, N Y

tir

9/28
2001

26

hen Jay Levinson got
the news in Jerusalem
about the terrorist
action at the World
Trade Center on Sept. 11, the expert
in victim identification had two
immediate thoughts. The first was
that he must get on the next plane to
New York. The second was that his
wife was going to kill him.
"Missing the High Holy Days,"
says Levinson, hand over his kippah
in a mock cower. "That wouldn't go
over well."
The humor Levinson, 52, brings to
his work and life may contradict
expectations of the steely character
required to spearhead identification
efforts after terrorist incidents in
Israel and on behalf of the Jewish
community in disasters such as
Swissair flight 111, Pan Am 103 and
the World Trade Center. His jolly
disposition, however, is not an eva-
sion of the tragedies he regularly con-
fronts, but rather a source of
strength, reflection of his religious

faith, and a necessary tool for a career
devoted to disaster.
Levinson, who received a Ph.D. in
Middle Eastern studies from New
York University, started serving as a
document examiner for the U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency in 1972.
His work, which has now been par-
tially declassified, involved anti-ter-
rorism efforts.
"I can't tell you too much about
it," says Levinson, "but I will say I
am extremely proud of the work we
did."
He and his wife made aliyah in
1981. In Israel, they raised a family
of eight children and reinvigorated
their Orthodox traditions. Levinson
continued his work in document
analysis for the Israel National Police
and began a course of study in victim
identification, which included
instruction by the Israeli army.
In 1985, he was put in charge of
establishing the Israel National
Police's Disaster Victim Identification
Unit, for which he created a protocol
adhering both to rigorous scientific
standards and Jewish law. Jewish
communities around the world have
called upon his expertise wherever

Perhaps the best known aspect
of Jewish law's requirement for
positive identification are the ramifi-
cations for potential widows. A
woman cannot remarry unless she is
divorced or her husband is officially
pronounced deceased by a beit din, or
rabbinical council.
Remarriage, however, is not the
only justification for the identifica-
tion process, Levinson says.
"I want to identify every man,
woman and child. You never know
what issues may arise in Jewish life
and you'll want that official stamp."
The beit din accepts a specific code
for proof of death. The top identifier,
logically; relies on the ability to pro-
duce a body.
With a rare heavy sigh, Levinson
acknowledges that such proof will be
hard to come by in the World Trade
Center aftermath. But he counsels,
"You can't be overwhelmed by the
numbers. You have to forge ahead. If
there's not a body, you rely on a scale
of sinamin, which are characteristics
of importance."
Fingerprints, dental records, dis-
tinct scars and unusual tattoos are
top level sinamin, while, perhaps sur-
prisingly, DNA test results are not.
Levinson believes that DNA should

not be adopted as an identification
panacea, as it has only been in use
since 1985, as opposed to fingerprint
technology, which relies on 100 years
of records.
Judaism is also sensitive to the
potential "Pandora's Box" effect DNA
testing can provoke.
"In Judaism, a mamzer is the child
of a woman whose husband is not
the father. If we accepted DNA test-
ing as positive proof of identification,
we could brand someone as a m'am
zer, who is not allowed to participate
in Jewish society."
Instead, an additional proof
requirement mitigates DNA's defin-
ing power.
Second-level sinamin include the
discovery of property found on or in
the person. Dentures are particularly
good, explains Levinson, "because
that is a kind of property people
don't loan out or give away."
Personal testimony is a non-ideal
but often necessary source of data.
"We try not to rely on it," says
Levinson, "especially when witnesses
are themselves in trauma."

Being A Detective

In the World Trade Center disaster,
however, testimony will be the key-
stone of many investigations. If a wit-
ness claims their loved one traveled
to the World Trade Center on the
morning of Sept. 11, for example,
the investigation could check that
information against the details in an
EZPass bill. EZPass is an electronic
payment system for New York toll
roads and bridges. This would verify
the travel pattern of the potential vic-
tim.
Levinson recounts the case of a
World Trade Center missing person
who called his family and said, "I'm
safe." He hasn't been seen since, illus-
trating the imperfection of personal
testimony. Instead, a scientific
method must be used to establish the
missing person's status.