A baby was born in the eighth month last erev Shabbos to Yosef Bornstein and his wife in Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. R”L the fetus was born lifeless and in such cases, the hospital arranges for kvura of the fetus. The father however insisted he would like to personally see the kvura for fear the hospital would not give the proper kovod to the fetus.
The chevra kadisha told the father it did not know where the fetus would be buried but explained it would inform him after they learn of the location. The father removed the fetus from the hospital in violation of regulations. He arrived with the fetus to the office of the chevra kadisha in the Sanhedria cemetery. The man held his phone and shot a video of the incident. The infant is in a carton as the father shouts at the person responsible, warning he would publicize the video on Channel 2 News to embarrass the chevra kadisha if they do not tend to the kvura.
In a conversation with Walla News, the father explained he accepted the chevra kadisha’s offer to be informed of the kvura location but he was told he cannot participate in the levaya. However, he explained, the chevra kadisha went back on the deal. “They told me come and take the baby” he explained. “The carton was still in the office, on the bench. I was shocked. I took the body from there and put it in the car and turned on the air conditioner so the body would cool” he added.
A member of the chevra kadisha spoke with Ladaat News on the condition of anonymity, explaining that while the chevra wished to assist the father, they do not deal with kvura of fetuses for a number of years. “We suggest that he bring the fetus back to the hospital but he refused” the chevra official explained.
The chevra explains that there is a company that buries the fetuses for hospitals, as this is no longer the job of the chevra kadishas. Ultimately, Zaka CEO Yehuda Meshi-Zahav found a solution. The Yemenite Chevra Kadisha agreed to bury the fetus on Har HaZeisim.
The Ministry of Religious Services responds: The case involves a fetus of eight months. The norm is the company that won the tender deals with the burial of fetuses. The father brought the body to the chevra kadisha and it was explained to the father it does not address kvura of fetuses for a number of years. They tried to assist him, instructing him to take the body back to the hospital. At the end a solution was found in line with Halacha.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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16 Responses
What is this “fetus”? An eight-months developed baby is a child. This is a baby that died at birth. Why can it not be buried by the parents? I don’t understand this at all.
This is absolutely crazy, but remember who we are dealing with.
People that handle dead bodies all day, sometimes in the most tragic forms, need to be dan l’chaf zchus. For someone to be capable of this kind of work human emotions must naturally be numbed, and sometimes it gets to the head.
But if they won’t do it who will?
This is what happened when you have a government agency running things. In golus we have always relied on “civil society” (volunteer organization) to run things. On a level we can see and understand, this is why socialism is a bad idea, even if our friends are the apparatchiks in charge.
Har Hazeisim? Poor kid.
Hope the parents can get up there for the matzeivah shtellen … and that the arabs don’t smash it down afterwards.
4,
Poor kid??
PUNKT FARKERT!!!!
WHAT A ZCHUS FOR THE NIFTAR!!!!
Must have been a special neshoma!!!
My heart goes out to the parents – it’s bad enough to lose a child, but the callousness of the chevra is appalling.
From my own family’s experience, parents are not involved with the burial of a child under 30 days old. A boy is given a bris and a name – not sure what happens with a girl. It is very distressing for me personally to read this report. Nobody should ever know from such things.
A baby that never breathed, ie. was born dead is referred to as a fetus (even if it was fully grown). In general, a fetus that never breathed, isn’t given a regular kevura/levaya etc. It is usually buried quietly in a special section by the hospital who have a special arrangement with the Chevra Kadisha, or in this case with a special company who takes care of this.
The halacha regarding burial/levaya etc is very different in this case as the fetus never lived.
It sounds like the hospital was going to bury the fetus for the father (like they do in all of these cases) but that he for some reason decided he needed to be involved in this, which is not the norm at all (as far as I’m aware). This is a difficult time for parents in this situation, and it sounds like he wasn’t dealing with it very well.
But that is not a reason for him to take the fetus and demand that a chevra kadisha bury it, as this is not the custom, and they can’t just do something like that just because he shows up with a fetus.
Let’s not be so quick to judge, when we don’t really understand all of the details, laws, halachos, customs etc.
What most people do not know is that there are multiple chevra kadishas in Jerusalem. You can choose which one handles your kevurah.
We went through the same thing, got the same response, but someone sat down with the Jerusalem phonebook, called chevra, after chevra, until a chevra was found that would handle the kevurah properly in Jerusalem, AND the parents were allowed to be present.
It is a terrible, emotionally draining situation. We all assume that residents of Jerusalem are automatically allowed kevurah in Jerusalem, but when it comes to babies, you must, unfortunately, “Shop” chevra kadishas.
It has nothing to do with politics, or the government, it has to do with the policies of each and every chevra kadishas, which differ.
It it a very, very sad set of circumstances.
Uncalled for behavior by so called Orthodox Jews causes frum to go off the derech. Send these Chera kadisha behaimos packing.
Actually the child or “Fetus” that was not born alive, is given a name, and buried. There is Kavod Hames involved even with a still born. Do you think the parents should actually trust the hospital to bury the “fetus”?? We are dealing with some hospitals that would do autopsies with out family consent.
” An eight-months developed baby is a child. This is a baby that died at birth.”
Actually there is halachic precedent for even a baby born alive who only survives a few days not to be treated as having ever lived. To quote Rabbi Maurice Lamm, *The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning*:
“A life duration of more than 30 days establishes the human being as a viable person. If a child dies before that time he is considered not to have lived at all, and no mourning practices are observed, even though the child may have been normal, but was killed accidentally.”
The Rambam and the Shulchan Aruch appear hold this way, based on gemara. The Jewish approach is not that of the Christians.
If you read the chareidi news sites in Israel, you would understand that the Chevra Kadisha acted properly here, and that the father had ulterior motives for taking the fetus out (in a box!) . It’s a shame that most here jump to accuse and judge based on biases and not facts.
Thank you for the explanation “be good”.
In Yerushalayim, there is a chelka for fetus’ and children, and the parents do not take part in the levaya – that’s minhag yerushalayim.
And #4, i’m sure you’d pay a mint to be in the prime location – har hazeisim – when moshiach comes…
may we all be zoiche to kevurah be’chavod, and to be mekabel p’nei moshiach tzidkeinu. Omen
The minhag of many is for the parents not to go for the kevurah, but being told that it he has to deal with the company that won the tender to process the bodies is incredibly sickening. Politicians in charge of money lose regard to the value of peoples earnings and livelihood, and politicians in charge of people lose regard for the sanctity of human life.
#11 Is that so
We circumcise a male ,etc., before 30 days
Once the infant sticks it’s head out of the womb ,it’s life is granted identical value to it’s mother and it is prohibited to kill it even to save the mother’s life,yes?
If you kill the infant it is virtual murder, though indeed the murderer gets off because there is still a doubt of the potential viability of the child.
Maurice Lamm, on this and almost everything else is suspect