Avner Rein, a founder of the Shomron community of Shaare Tikvah was niftar recently. In his will the niftar requested that his kvura be in the community which he helped to build. The community, which is near the Green Line of Petach Tikvah, does not have a beis hachaim.
The family consulted with yishuv leaders and ultimately the decision was made to bury the niftar in an unused area that was once planned to become the beis hachaim, but this never occurred.
It appears that they realized something was not kosher with their decision because in the funeral announcements that just stated “the levaya will begin from the niftar’s home”. No mention was made of the burial site, which was kept a secret until the actual event occurred.
A short time following the kvura the family received a letter from the owner of that piece of land after learning there is now a kever on the plot. The land in question is designated for commercial use, pointing out “it is worth millions”. The developer instructs the family to remove the kever within one week or it will do so on its own.
Kobi Rein, a son of the niftar insists that if they knew the land was privately owned they never would have acted as they did. The family is pointing a finger of blame at the rav of the community, Rabbi Moshe Feuerstein. The rav explains when the family turned to him for assistance he checked with the community leaders and then informed the family of his findings and the risks involved with kvura in an undesignated area. The rabbi explains he was told by the directors of the community that the land in question is state-owned. Rabbi Feuerstein insists he made it clear to the bereaved family that ultimately, the decision was theirs alone since no one can say what would occur following the kvura in an unauthorized area.
The community council instructs the family to turn to the land owner and the rabbi to reach an agreement, one that is respectable considering the circumstances. The land owner is unwilling to permit the kever to remain, explaining it interferes with development plans. It is explained that requests about a decade ago to designate the area as a cemetery were never completed and the land in question was never designated and therefore, the kvura is illegal.
It appears the family will have to exhume the niftar for burial in an authorized location.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
I am no posek, but this sounds like a case where it would not only be mutar, but an actual chiyuv to move the body. One of the main arguments against chillul kevarim is that it is gezel. Here, albeit unwittingly, the kevurah was through gezel, so he would need to be moved. If the niftar wanted so much to be buried in a particular place, he should have bought karkah and not waited until the last minute. If he had bought the plot when the land was still a cemetery, this would have never happened. Since apparently nobody ever purchased a plot there, and it seems there was never a chinuch beis hachaim either, it seems it never became a cemetery and was indeed legally sold, thus there was no right to be buried there. And it is the Israeli Rabbanut who messed this up who now wants to continue to boss around Diaspora rabbis. They can’t even handle their own jobs, and they have to boss us around?