"We have to trace when and
where he made that call and
calculate how long it took him
to get down," states Levinson,
whose meticulous approach has
frequently surpassed that of lay
authorities in various parts of
the world.
"The hardest case I ever han-
dled was in the El Al
Amsterdam crash" in 1992, he
says. Convinced a body part
belonged to one of the four
Israelis killed in the crash,
Levinson could not accept the
Dutch report of a non-blood
match. He insisted they repeat
the test and was proven correct.
"It's not easy when you dis-
agree with the sponsoring gov-
ernment," he notes.
Fortunately, the New York
medical examiner uses scientific
methods with which Jewish law
is comfortable. The similarity of
approach and a general open-
ness to cooperation bodes well
for working relations between
the Jewish community and the
medical examiner, he said.
In some cases, however,
halachic requirements may not
be observed as they would in
Israel. For example, the burial
requirement that all blood and
flesh of the victims be collected
and buried may not be made
possible, given the danger,
complexity and security needs
of the disaster site.
"Generally, I try to stay out
of burial issues," admits
Levinson. "Each rabbi and
individual families must deter-
mine when to sit shivah them-
selves. In Judaism, you decide
when you've lost hope and
need to begin the mourning
process.
He has written a set of
guidelines, which he will leave
in the hands of the Rabbinical
Council of America. While
these instructions call for
adherence to burial laws that
require that every bit of a vic-
tim's flesh be collected,
Levinson is aware of certain
practical limitations.
Di erent Rules
"This is New York, it's not
Jerusalem," Levinson says.
"We're not in charge here."
On Monday, Levinson met
with the family of a man killed
in the Trade Center. The victim
left behind a wife and brother,
who. according to Jewish law,
must now marry. Jewish tradi-
don appreciates the fact that
such marriages may be undesir-
able, and offers a ritual, the
chalitzah, which takes place in
front of a beit din, to sanctify
the rejection procedure.
Levinson's eyes cloud as he
talked about the terrible sad-
ness he prepared to confront.
His retirement from the
Israel National Police last April
reflects an acknowledgement of
the personal cost of Levinson's
line of work.
"It came to a point where I
realized I lived with a pretty
constant case of post traumatic
stress disorder. I feel I've done
what I could. It's time for some
other things," he says.
Those other things include
publication of two co-authored
books with uncannily prescient
titles: Terrorism: The New
Urban Threat and Response to
Transportation Disasters, both of
which will be released this year.
Levinson has also authored
100 articles and lectured in 20
countries about his field of
expertise. This year, he went on
a 1072 week vacation which
fulfilled his lifelong dream to
visit Cuba. He also is a con-
tributing writer for the
Palestinian newspaper
Jerusalem Times Biladi, and has
helped coordinate medical
research efforts for a
Palestinian hospital in Gaza.
"I have good relations with
Palestinians and Jordanians,"
he says proudly, grasping the
collar of his crisp, white shirt.
"This shirt is Jordanian!" A
friendship with a Palestinian
postal worker is a boon to his
stamp collection, which he
describes with the relish of a
passionate hobbyist.
Facing a day of sorrow, after
a week of round-the-clock
work, in a city deeply in
mourning, Levinson's joyful
energy might seem out of place
were his explanation not
backed up by the experience of
one who knows:
"You have to do things to be
happy. You only live one life,
and it's too short."
❑
Katy McLaughlin is a writer
in Brooklyn.
Following
Procedures
Jewish relatives of terror victims
confront issues of burial and divorce.
can control their emotions a little better."
Rabbi Tendler said that in those instances
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
when a body is recovered after the shivah
period is completed, it is buried accompa-
New York
nied by a single day of mourning called yom
abbi Avi Weiss has three families
likut atzamos, the day that the bones are
i n his congregation waiting for
buried.
New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani
There is nothing in Jewish law prohibiting
R o decide whether their relatives
having
a tombstone for individuals who per-
are dead or alive.
ished
in
the Sept. 11 attack, said Rabbi
"We're in a period of mourning between
Tendler.
death and burial, which is in limbo," said
But when asked, he advises a living
Weiss, spiritual leader of the Hebrew
memorial
such as a playground with a
Institute of Riverdale in the Bronx, N.Y.
memorial
plaque as a more suitable way to
The three linked to Weiss'conareaation
b b
remember
the dead.
are among the thousands missing after the
Rabbi
Mark
Washofsky said he has heard
Sept. II terrorist attacks. With more than
of
rases
where
Jewish
families held memorial
6,000 feared dead as a result of the attacks
services for those lost in the World Trade
on the World Trade Center — an unknown
Center attack, despite the fact that the
number are Jewish — rabbis like Weiss are
search hadn't been called off yet.
consulting experts in 1-falachah, Jewish law,
Rabbi Washofsky said these families decid-
to find out how to mourn without a body.
ed
for themselves that they had no hopes of
And just as Halachah mandates what
finding
their loved ones alive.
should be done from the moment of death
"The
families wanted to do something rit-
to burial, it is explicit in what should be
ually
marking
the beginning of the mourn-
done in those cases when no body is found.
ing process, and shivah would have been cut
Rabbi Moshe Tendler, professor of talmu-
short by Rosh Hashanah, so they felt the
dic law and medical ethics at Yeshiva
need to do something quickly," said Rabbi
University in New York, agrees that the
Warshofsky,
associate professor of rabbinics
question of when mourning can begin lies in
at
the
Reform
movement's Hebrew Union
Giuliani's hands.
College-Jewish
Institute of Religion in
"The moment he stops talking about the
Cincinnati.
search-and-rescue mission, it means they're
Halachic issues aside, the lack of a body
not looking anymore," said Rabbi Tendler.
can make what is already an extremely diffi-
'And as long as they're calling it a rescue
cult grieving process even more so, experts
mission, there's still hope in someone's
say
heart."
Samuel Heilman, a Queens College soci-
, ology professor whose latest book is When a
Alternatives to Burial
Jew Dies: The .Ethnography of a Bereaved Son,
Usually; Jews bury their dead within 24
made the point that the purifying washing
hours. In this case, Rabbi Tendler said,
ritual performed after death is as much for
Jewish law dictates that once the search is
the soul as it is for the body
called off, shivah — or mourning — must
"The purification and burial can't be done
commence as it would with any death, but
when
there is an absence of a body," said
without a funeral service. "The service is a
Heilman,
noting that those rituals serve as a
burial service and, in this case, there's noth-
kind
of
"seeing-off"
of the body.
ing to bury," he said.
Without
a
physical
place for the family to
Rabbi Tendler advised instead that a
visit the body, he added, "there's no feeling
memorial service take place at the shloshim,
of closure. It's as if the soul that resided in
the 30th day after death becomes official.
that body has not reached its destination and
'Eulogies are for the living," he said, "and
is in tortured limbo because the body hasn't
they should be done at a point where the
been purified and laid to rest." O
family is already over the crying period and
NDRA J.V'ALL
9/28
2001
27