Rabbinical Court denies woman's cremation request, orders Jewish burial

Israel’s Rabbinical Court ruled against honoring the cremation request of a 31-year-old Israeli woman who died by suicide in St. Moritz, Switzerland, determining that her will was invalid due to mental incompetence, the court confirmed on Tuesday.

The decision upholds an earlier ruling by the Ariel Rabbinical Court, which ordered her remains to be brought to Israel for burial.

The woman, an Israeli citizen, was found dead in Switzerland with her Israeli passport and a notarized will that she had signed in Israel approximately two and a half weeks earlier.

In the will, she requested that if she died in Switzerland, her body be cremated near the location of her death “quickly” and that her ashes remain in Switzerland until her brother could collect them within 30 days. The will also designated her mother as the administrator of her estate and as her sole heir.

Legal proceedings began at the Ariel Rabbinical Court, where the woman’s mother testified that her daughter had suffered from "various mental challenges, delusions, and false visions" and was not of sound mind when she signed the will.

The court ruled that the woman was not competent to make decisions regarding her body or inheritance, invalidating the will and ordering that her remains be transported to Israel for burial.

The State Attorney’s Office appealed to the Rabbinical Court, arguing that the court had no jurisdiction over cremation and the handling of remains. The mother, however, maintained that the entire will should be considered invalid and requested that her daughter be buried in a Jewish cemetery so the family could visit her grave.

Rabbinical Court decision

In its decision, the Rabbinical Court, led by senior judge Rabbi Shlomo Shapira, Rabbi Zion Luz, and Rabbi Zvi Ben Yaakov, ruled in favor of the family. The judges determined that the woman’s relatives, including her father, who wanted her buried in Israel, could not be forced to act against their religious beliefs or pay for cremation, particularly given concerns about her mental state when she wrote the will.

The judges also questioned the State Attorney’s Office's motives for appealing the decision, stating: "The State of Israel is investing many resources in the return of the bodies of those murdered and kidnapped in the war, with the aim of bringing them to the Jewish grave, as has been the custom of Israel for generations... while in this situation and at this time, the Attorney General's Office is investing efforts in preventing the bringing of an Israeli girl to Israel against the pleas of her parents and family."

The court rejected the appeal, nullified the will, and ruled that the woman must be buried in Israel in accordance with Jewish burial customs. The Attorney General’s Office was also ordered to pay 30,000 shekels in legal expenses to the woman’s mother.