· Keeping Watch: the Shomer  

    · Autopsy

    · Organ Donation  

    · Embalming  

    · Ritually Preparing a Body for Burial - Tahara  

    · Shrouds - Tachrichim  

    · Other Items Placed in the Coffin

Keeping Watch: the Shomer

Who Should Keep Watch

The honor due to the dead, k’vod Hamet, calls for the appointment of a guardian or Shomer to stay alongside the body until the burial takes place. The best way to fulfill this obligation is to have a family member or friend as the Shomer.

When this isn’t feasible, Jewish funeral homes, the Chevra Kaddisha, or synagogue bereavement committees may provide a Shomer’s service. Several people can share this honor, rotating watch throughout the night or passing the hours together. Men act as Shomrim (plural of the Hebrew Shomer)for men, and women or men act as Shomrim for women.

Modern mortuary and funeral home arrangements have made the Shomer’s task less direct because bodies are kept in storage, but family and friends should still make arrangements to remain near the body, even if the Shomer must remain in a separate room apart from the deceased.

 A Shomer’s Duties

The solemn watch over a body is traditionally a silent one except for the reading of Psalms, especially Psalm 23 (“The Lord is my Shepherd… though I walk through the valley of death, I fear no harm because You are with me.”) and Psalm 91, which speaks of God as a source of consolation. It is considered in poor taste to eat in the same room as one who cannot enjoy the pleasures of this world anymore.

Occupation with the mitzvah of watching a body exempts a Shomer from other positive commandments, such as the obligation to pray. If there are several Shomrim, one may pray in a separate room while the other Shomer remains in place.

Prohibitions and Permissions

Autopsies are looked upon as a violation of the sanctity and dignity of the human form. Whenever possible they should be avoided. Civil authorities may demand an autopsy in the case of homicides, suicides and accidental deaths.

A halachic thinker in eighteenth century Prague, Rabbi Ezekiel Landau, ruled in favor of autopsies when knowing the cause of death would be of immediate help to a doctor treating another person who was suffering symptoms similar to those that brought about the deceased’s demise. In this situation, an autopsy may save a life and enhances the dignity of the deceased. However this permission does not translate to subjecting a body to participation in a post-mortem medical study.

Tampering with the sanctity of a human body in death is dishonorable to the deceased. Created in God’s image and welcomed into the world with love, a human body deserves more than a dispassionate, scientific farewell.

Autopsies, Unnecessary?

" In The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning" (Jonathan David, 1969), author Maurice Lamm passionately advocates against routine autopsies. His position is that the diagnostic sciences are advanced enough to eliminate the need for autopsies to determine the cause of death. Doctors usually know the cause or can discern it with methods short of a full autopsy.

Lamm continues to cast doubt on some doctors’ motivations to perform autopsies. He notes that hospitals with a high rate of autopsy performance are generally considered higher quality medical centers. A desire to keep these statistics high may inflate the number of autopsy requests.

Burial After an Autopsy

After an autopsy, great care should be taken to have all organs or other parts of the body returned and buried with the rest of the body.

There are several issues that shape the halachic discussion about organ donation. From one view, taking organs and other parts from the dead may be considered nivul hamet, mutilation of the dead, which is forbidden. It is also a question of issur hanaah, the prohibition against deriving benefit from a dead body.

On the other hand, Judaism puts lifesaving measures above all else: pikuach nefesh docheh et hakol. For example, in one specific case, permission was given for a corneal transplant, where the corneas were taken from a cadaver. Saving someone from blindness is like saving them from death, because an inability to see prevents people from seeing the possibly life-threatening obstacles before them.

Embalming

Jacob and Joseph were embalmed before burial (Genesis 50:2,26) as per the custom of the time. The rabbis in the Talmud frowned on the practice as disrespectful to the deceased. Embalming involves the introduction of a preservative into the body and the removal of some organs to prevent decay.

A body that is kept under refrigeration and given a timely burial as mandated by halacha does not need any special procedures to keep it from deteriorating before the funeral. Furthermore, there are no open caskets at Jewish funerals. This eliminates the need to artificially paint and manipulate a body for presentation. The aim to preserve a body is contrary to the Jewish view “for you are dust and to dust shall you return” (Genesis 3:19).

The Talmud (Yerushalmi Moed Kattan, 1:5) explains that a soul’s atonement is completed once the body is fully decomposed.

Understanding the Ritual

 k’vod Hamet, honoring the dead, finds its greatest expression in the act of ritually cleansing a body before burial.

In mystical thought all water can be traced back to its original source in the rivers of Eden. Water carries with it the power to return those who immerse in it to the first moments of creation, when the world was pure.

The Tahara – the word means purification – symbolizes a transformation of status. The body, which was created in the image of God, has served its purpose in life. The water of the Tahara readies the body for the next stage, “to dust you shall return.”

The Tahara Process

First the casket is set up. A large sheet-like shroud is draped inside. The ends of the shroud will be used to swaddle and cover the body after it has been cleansed and dressed. To preserve the dignity of the deceased, men bathe men, women bathe women. A cloth covers the body at all times, except for the parts of that are being washed. Throughout the Tahara, the body is kept face up in another gesture of respect. The body is placed on a table with a drain. The Tahara is done with lukewarm water, and the body is cleansed beginning with the right side of the body. The hair is combed the hair and the fingernails are cleaned.

Tahara is performed in silence. Some Chevra Kaddisha groups will say certain portions or verses according to community custom. Some read from Yoma 85b:

 

Rabbi Akiva said: Happy are you Israel. Before whom do you cleanse yourselves and who cleanses you? It is your father, who is in heaven. As it is said (Ezekiel 36:25) “Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness and from all your idols I will cleanse you.” The Holy One blessed be He purifies Israel.

 

Some communities have the custom of placing ashes on the eyelids to recall the words “unto dust you shall return.” Others place shards of pottery, sherblach, on the eyelids.

When the Tahara is completed, all those who participated ask forgiveness of the deceased for they may have inadvertently treating it with disrespect.

Who Does the Tahara

Taking part in a Tahara is considered a great mitzvah, but family participation in the Tahara in considered too heart wrenching. Funeral home staff may be prepared to perform the Tahara upon request. Non-Jews do not participate in this ritual.

Cost

Generally, the Chevra Kaddisha does not require a fee for its services, but a minimal supply fee may be charged or waived if need be.

Why Shrouds Are Used

Before the destruction of the first Temple in Jerusalem, Jews were buried in the clothing they wore in life. Elaborate burial costumes became the fashion. Poor families, who could ill afford this expense, began neglecting Jewish funeral rites to avoid the cost.

Rabbi Simeon ben Gamliel II, the head of the Sanhedrin, central Jewish court, around 125 C.E., introduced the custom of using plain linen shrouds for rich and poor alike. In death we are all equal before God, he said, setting the tone for the unassuming Jewish burial customs followed today.

What Shrouds Look Like

The shrouds are hand stitched and have no fasteners, zippers or buttons. All closings are done with slip knots or bows.

Shrouds have been made without pockets since the 16th century to emphasize the triviality of accumulating wealth. Like the dress of the Kohen priests in the days of the Temple in Jerusalem, the Tachrichim consist of michnasayim - pants, ktonet - tunic, mitznephet - head covering, and avnet - belt. An outer shirt with a collar is the outer layer of the ensemble.

The mitznephet covers the crown of the head down to the nape of the neck. A woman’s mitznephet is a bonnet-like head covering with an apron front. A one-piece hood is used for a man’s mitznephet.

The avnet is wrapped around the body several times. Sometimes a man is cloaked in the ceremonial white kittel jacket he wore at his wedding, on Yom Kippur, and at the Seder table.

Women are enveloped in a large cloth called a sovev – literally, that which surrounds. Men are wrapped in a tallit. In life, a tallit must have four fringed corners to be valid. Before the tallit is used for burial, one of the fringes will be cut to symbolize that death ends the obligation to fulfill Mitzvot. Traditional linen shrouds are preferred. If they are too expensive, shrouds of any material are fine. Shrouds can be shipped from a Jewish funeral home by overnight delivery.

Other Items Placed in the Coffin

Some earth from Israel is put in along side the body in a linen bag or sprinkled along the coffin floor. Any cloth that absorbed the person’s blood is included in the coffin as are, according to some opinions, false teeth. Pottery shards, sherblach, are placed on the person’s eyelids. The symbolize broken earth over a broken life.