World
Chevra
Kadisha
Volunteers are joining
burial societies.
Louise Chatlynne and Rena
Broditsky demonstrate the
beginning of the tahara pro-
cedure ondlive volunteer.
During the actual prepping of
k-b-ody for burial, the
deceased's face would be cov-
ered.
•CHANAN TIGAr-
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
New York
he call came in late afternoon: A Jew has
been killed in a car crash. The body is lying
in a nearby funeral home, waiting to be
prepped for burial. "Can you get over here tonight?"
Jackie Stromer remembers his first glimpse of the
victim. "He looked totally serene," said Stromer,
who works with a New Jersey Jewish burial society.
"Like he was taking a nap."
What Stromer could not see was the massive trau-
ma the impact had inflicted beneath the surface.
"We were told in no uncertain terms that if we
removed his jeans, we'd take off a leg," Stromer said.
That raised a question: According to Jewish cus-
tom, a person should not be buried wearing or bear-
ing any,of their possessions. The deceased are nor-
mally ctgal @I-44n 'traditional, pocketless burial
garments known as tachrichim.
But Stromer said the decision was simple: The
man was buried in his dungarees, with traditional
burial pants laid over them.
"If by the removal of their clothing you're going to,
in fact, dismember the body, you don't do it," he said.
That was in keeping with kavod hicthiet, or respect
for the dead, which those involved in chevra kadisha
burial societies say is their primary concern.
"The considerations are generally as follows,"
Stromer said. "You want to gather up any blood that
came out at the time of death" and bury it along
with the body. "You want to bury as intact a body as
you possibly can, and you want to follow all the pre-
scribed rituals as closely as you possibly can. That's
the hierarchy in which you operate."
Whether they're Orthodox, Reform, Conservative
or Reconstructionist, Jews across the board are form-
ing a growing number of chevra kadisha groups
throughout the T$Streci. S tatWand'iacta.:: 24,z' --•;.. ; ;•-t.,
. According to several participants at a recent chevra
kadisha conference organized by Kavod v'Nichum —
a group whose name is Hebrew for "respect and
comfort" — Judaism's divergent streams, at odds on
myriad issues of theology, ideology and practice, are
finding common -ground when it comes to caring
for corpses between death and burial.
Indeed, participants say, the primary differences in
ritual burial preparation = known as tahara
lie
not between Orthodox and non-Orthodox chevras,
but between groups from disparate geographic and
ethnic backgrounds. • : -. -,
"I think it's one of the few areas of Judaism where
T
—
6/16
2005
20
Bruce Bloom of Los Angeles, demonstrates
how to tie bows on traditional Jewish
burial garments at the Chevra Kadisha
conference in New York
on June 6
Jews are pretty much united in practice," said Ira
Feigenbaum, who is part of a chevra kadisha group
in Hartford, Conn.
Hundreds of volunteer burial societies exist
throughout North America, from small towns to big
cities.
Some. are nultidenominational, both because
• •
•- -
•
pfactice
varies little
between the denomina-
tions and, in the case of smaller locales, because
there simply are too few Jews to be picky.
Participation in a tahara is considered to be
among the highest forms of mitzvah, because recipi-
ents of the service can't thank those carrying it out.
"That's why it's chesed shel emet, the truest act of
kindness," said Rabbi Joseph Ozarowski, the incom-
ing rabbinic chaplain of the Jewish Healing Network
of Chicago.
Taking part in a tahara is "intensely spiritual," said
David Zinner, executive director of Kavod
VNichum, Which provides assistance, training and
resources about Jewish death and bereavement prac-
tices throughout the United States and Canada.
"It connects people with a life-and-death process
in a very intimate way and really helps them get in
touch with God and with their own spirituality and
mortality," he said. "It's the ultimate reality check."
In addition to spiritual concerns, tahara practi-
tioners must deal on a frequent basis with the most
practical — sometimes gruesome — elements of
working with the dead. That was highlighted by a
sampling of questions asked during a seminar on
'Advanced Tahara' at the conference:
• If a bandage seems likely to rip the skin if it is
removed, can it be left on the body? •
• If a person has been killed in an auto accident
and broken bones are protruding from the skin,
can the burial garments be altered to fit around
misshapen limbs?
• If a Foley catheter, held in place with a water-
filled balloon in the bladder, remains in a dead
body, but proves tough to remove because it is still
inflated, can it be left in for burial?
• If it seems likely that removal of a feeding tube
or a tube in the neck will lead to bleeding, can it be
left in?
'As far as I'm concerned, there is only one
Halachah when it comes to chevra kadishas, only
one guiding principle: kavod hdmet," or respect for
the dead, Stromer said. "Having treated that as your
guiding source, everything else is common sense."
Each of these scenarios, in other words, ought to
be dealt with on an ad-hoc basis, with respect for the
deceased primary in the decision-making process.
For many years, chevra kadisha groups and taharas
primarily were the domain of the Orthodox. But
that has begun to change over the past 30 years —
since the publication of Arnold Goodman's A Plain
Pine Box
as burial societies from across the reli-
gious spectrum have emerged.
In the past five to 10 years, insiders say, the num-
ber of non-Orthodox chevras has greatly expanded.
Some 170 people attended the Kavod v'Nichum
conference, from 25 U.S. states and three Canadian
provinces. About 10-15 percent were Orthodox, 20
percent Reform or Reconstructionist, and about 50
percent Conservative, organizers said. ❑
—
For more information on chevra kadishas, visit
www.jewish-funerals.org.