After a one-year battle, a chareidi family has succeeded in having the kever of their father/grandfather exhumed to rebury the niftar in ground, not in an above-ground multi-tiered kever as the chevra kadisha originally buried him.
Immediately following the levaya the family began efforts to have the body moved, unwilling to accept the fact their beloved father was buried in a drawer above ground but it was not so simple. After the exhumation, the niftar was interred in Har HaZeisim.
The case began erev Hoshanah Rabba 5772 when the father was niftar. It was very close to yomtov and the kvura was hastened to get done before yomtov and not chas v’sholom having to wait until after Simchas Torah. The family explains the chevra kadisha made all the arrangements for the plot because there was no time for discussion as yomtov approached. The family paid 33,000 NIS for the plot in the form of a check. As soon as they got to the burial site at the beis hachaim they realized this was all wrong and an argument ensued. The clock was running out and yomtov was rapidly approaching so the niftar was buried in the above-ground kever.
Immediately following Simchas Torah the family turned to Maran Rav Elyashiv ZT”L with the assistance of Rav Morgenstern. The decision was made to exhume the niftar and move him to another kever, in ground.
The family approached the chevra kadisha, but the rabbonim refused to comply. They explained they will not dig up the niftar, resulting in appeal to the local religious council, urging the rabbonim to forbid the chevra kadisha from cashing the 33,000 NIS check and to instruct the chevra to exhume the body. The case went to court and the chevra refused to hold off on cashing the check. The court ruled the body will be exhumed and the niftar was moved to the Galitziya section in Har HaZeisim and the family sat shiva again as required.
The family requested to refrain from publishing details that may reveal their identity.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
Why do we continue to call them Chevra “Kadisha”???? They are businessmen just like anyone else….. as you can see……
# 1 That’s a disgusting comment. I’m on the Chevra Kadisha; our chevra doesn’t take a penny for our services. We often miss or are late for work and in my case, my Chassidishe boss objected to the possibility that I may be late if I was busy with a Tahara. I told him I would sooner quit than have that mitzva taken away from me, but many of us don’t get paid for the hours we miss.
I suggest you volunteer for your Kehilla’s Chevra & then you may be sensitive & knowledgeable enough to speak.
maybe there’s different types some are good and above board and some that are less so–like every where else in the world.
computerbubby
as always, there are two sides to every coin, two sides to every story, so too there are two types of Chevros.
i also do Taharos and volunteer without pay, but, sadly,YGR is saying the truth for many Chevros in Israel.
by way of fact, the place i volunteer at, there is actually someone making alot of money, a very lot, but he knows there are yungerleit who are happy to do the mitzva, so, they do the mitzvah and he gets rich!!!!
it is well known, without saying names, there are chevros in Israel that those at the top are millionaires, whethere you want to believe that or not!! and yes, sadly, some are only out to make money. they have a monopoly on a service people need and take full business advantege.
so yes, some do it leshem shomayim and should be praised and some…… lets just stick to the nicer term of businessman….. i could call them much worse but i refrain from doing so out of respect to those that visit this site.
Dearcomputerbobby,
You may be on a chevra,but it sure sounds NOT on a yerushalmi one,where the term chevra ‘KADISHA’ means absolutly NOTHING..it is well known that it is pure business,and has no shaychus to anything kodosh-unless you think money is kodesh….the whole building of these parking lot kvorim was neged daas torah,r’moshe and others say it is not considered being buried in the ground….and then to charge close to 10 grand for it-kind of speaks for itself…if you still think they are kodesh…then ask almost anyone who
has had to deal with them….
obvoiously comment #1 did not intend to members as of comment #2