Denying Israelis Jewish burials: ‘What would God say?’ - opinion

The story is told of a young scholar who approached the early 20th-century rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik and asked the rabbi to grant him rabbinical ordination (semicha).

Since ordination is normally given after testing the applicant’s knowledge of the Shulhan Aruch, the 16th-century code of Jewish law, the rabbi began the examination by asking the young man to name the Shulhan Aruch’s five volumes. 

Confused, the young student protested, “But there are only four volumes in the Shulchan Aruch.” “No,” the rabbi answered. “There is a fifth, unwritten volume. It is called common sense (seichel), and unless you know this volume, your knowledge of the other four volumes will not help you at all.”

Sometimes I despair, I really do!

I despair of the insensitivity and sheer crassness of behavior and failure of some of our Rabbis to utilize the ”fifth volume,” namely, common sense.

I am referring to the totally avoidable hurt, upset, and unnecessary additional trauma caused to the family of Alina Plahti, a 23-year-old woman brutally murdered together with her boyfriend and 260 other people at the Supernova music festival on October 7.

Buried "outside the fence"

As if it wasn’t bad enough for her grieving family that Alina was mercilessly killed and burned so badly that it took two weeks to identify her body, when they finally had an opportunity to lay her to rest, the Chevra Kadisha (Jewish burial society) in her home town of Beit She’an, decided that she must be buried “outside the fence,” away from the Jewish graves because she was not halachicly Jewish. The rabbi in charge of burials Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Laseri later ruled that they had acted correctly.

Alina’s mother is not Jewish, although her father is. Her brother completed his conversion, and, although Alina had begun a conversion process, she had not completed it.

As Olga Plahti, Alina’s grieving mother, stated, she was Jewish enough to be killed by Hamas but not Jewish enough to be buried with dignity by the Rabbis. 

There are varying interpretations of the Halacha as to whether a non-Jew should be buried with Jews, and this is not the forum to dissect these Rabbinic opinions. Suffice it to say that authorities as great as Maimonides, the great 12th-century Spanish philosopher, physician, and codifier of Jewish Law, allowed mixed burial for those affiliated with the Jewish people, even if not halachicly Jewish. Quite simply, as even the Chief Rabbinate acknowledged, there were ways to deal with this in a sensitive and appropriate manner, while acting within Halacha.

What is very pertinent, however, is that I am certain that Rabbi Laseri knows of all the different possibilities according to the various opinions, and yet chose to ratify a strict interpretation of Halacha, despite the obvious pain and anguish it caused to her family.

Such was the outcry at this thoughtless and cruel decision, that it was discussed at the Knesset Immigration, Absorption, and Diaspora Affairs Committee.

My co-founder of Techelet and close friend, Rabbi Ido Pachter, who is part of the Religion and State Department of Ne’emanei Torah Ve’Avoda advocated for the family at the Knesset hearing, and later arranged a minyan to say kaddish over her grave. He continues to give much-needed support to the family. This is what a “proper” Rabbi does.

Speaking on behalf of the Chief Rabbinate, Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Weisz (who coincidentally, was my rabbi in Manchester, UK when I was a teenager) admitted that the Chevra Kadisha in Beit She’an had acted “without seichel,” and agreed to call the family to apologize.

This is all well and good after the event, but what we still don’t have is a Chief Rabbinate that follows the dictates, not only of common sense, but of the Torah itself that we all so venerate.

Moses, the greatest leader, and teacher in our People’s history, in his valedictory speech to the Israelites before his death said:

“Be sure to keep the commandments, decrees, and laws that your God has enjoined upon you.” (Deuteronomy 6:17)

This appears to be a straightforward statement to indicate that the Israelites were to abide by Halacha.

However, he goes on to say in the very next sentence: “Do what is right and good in the sight of God, that it may go well with you.”

The meaning of this juxtaposition, is that before one determines to keep the strict letter of the Law, one must ask oneself: “Is this right and good in the eyes of God? Is this what God wants?”

If the answer is in the negative, which in poor Alina’s case, it certainly was, then it is imperative that we go back and look again at the Halacha and find a way to keep the law in a way that is good in the eyes of God, in a way that, if He were sat next to us, He would say: “ Yes, that is good, that is just, that is the correct interpretation. That is what I want from you.”

An apparently true story is told of the owner of a food factory who applied to a certain Kashrut Authority in the US for kosher certification. The boss did not want to have to go through the rigorous checks that were needed to gain the sought-after seal of approval, so he offered the rabbi in charge a 5% share of the profits in return for it. 

The rabbi closed his eyes and remained silent. Misinterpreting the silence as a negotiating ploy, the factory owner upped his offer to 7.5%. Still, the rabbi sat silent with his eyes closed. A further “final offer” of 10% ensued before the rabbi slowly opened his eyes and said (in Yiddish): “And what would God say?”.

It is time for our rabbis in Israel to embrace the fifth volume, to ponder not only what the law dictates but what is right and just in the eyes of God. To ask themselves “What would God say?”. Let compassion and common sense guide our interpretations, ensuring that our actions align with the true spirit of Torah.

The writer, a rabbi, lives in Ramat Poleg, Netanya, and is a co-founder of Techelet – Inspiring Judaism.