FEATURED JOBS
Comments (1)I am an Israeli. The name of the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of my country is Rav Amar.
Judaism goes to great lengths to show respect for the dead and dying. The High Priest, on his way to service in the Temple on Yom Kippur, must delay his religious duties if he is the only person available to bury a body. Respect for the dead is, simply put, a matter of paramount importance. Jewish tradition mandates that the terminally ill, their family, and ultimately the body be treated with awe and reverence.
So it is with the utmost disappointment, sadness and horror, that I share the following true story.
The Ben-David family are active members of the Jewish community in Madrid. Zohar Ben-David is Israeli born. His wife and his son, Gai, were converted to Judaism. Gai, a wonderful young man, recently observed his Bar Mitzvah. Sadly, he was also diagnosed with a brain tumor. The family did everything in their power but Gai’s situation deteriorated. As of last week he was unable to swallow or to even breath on his own.
Facing the inevitable, his brave father began to look into how his son would be buried. He was shocked to learn that the Chief Rabbi of Spain, Rav Dahan, would not authorize Gai’s internment in the Jewish cemetery without the OK of Israel’s Chief Sephardi Rabbi, Rav Shlomo Amar.
Gai was a rightious Ger (convert). His conversion included Brit Milah and Mikveh. He lived as a Jew, because he was a Jew. But, since the Beit Din that officiated over his conversion was made up of Masorti rabbis, Rav Amar was unwilling to temper his stern justice with a bit of mercy. This despite the fact that Jewish law, halacha, forbids the mistreatment of the convert, including reminding a convert that he or she was once not a Jew.
Rav Amar demanded that if the family wished their precious child to be buried in the Jewish cemetery he would have to be taken again to a Mikveh, in the presence of acceptable witnesses. This child, who had a respiratory tube in his throat, was unable to swallow and was being supported by a host of hospital machinery, could not be moved. But this did not move Rav Amar one iota. The suffering of Gai and of his family was irrelevant to Rav Amar. So easy was it to say no rather than look, with compassion, for a solution.
When contacted by Israel radio Sunday night, Rav Amar denied knowledge of this case. When confronted with evidence to the contrary, he said the Psak (decision) was not his to make but that of Rav Dahan. Rav Dahan reported to The Jerusalem Post that it was Rav Amar who made the final call that Gai be buried outside the main cemetery in an area in the very lower corner separated from the larger site.
How pathetic when chief rabbis abandon the truth and hide behind falsehoods and denials to cover base behavior. Let the rabbis stand up and take the heat for the damage they have done to the Ben David family, to the Masorti community in Madrid, and to Judaism.
Gai passed away on Friday. Rav Dahan and Rav Amar (in Spain for Hanukkah) did not budge. Gai was buried on the edge of the Jewish cemetery, on Sunday, in a special section reserved for outsiders. His soul will, I believe, be treated by God as that of a righteous Jew. The punishment, if it is to come, will be on those who caused humiliation and suffering to the Ben David family. Israel’s chief rabbi violated the principle of halacha which states: Better for one to hurl himself into a fiery furnace rather than shame his fellow in public.
There is an interesting postscript to this sad tale. Many leaders, and members, of Madrid’s Jewish community have signed a document stating that when their time comes (may it be a long time off), they would like to be buried in the very same area where Gai was laid to rest.
May Gai’s memory serve as a blessing to all of us. May the light of his life guide those who are unable to temper justice with mercy. May his family be comforted with the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
Rabbi Andrew Sacks is director of the Rabbinical Assembly in Israel and the Masorti movement’s Religious Affairs Bureau. This piece originally appeared on his blog on the Jerusalem Post (http://www.jpost.com) . Reprinted with permission of the Masorti Foundation for Conservative Judaism in Israel http://www.masorti.org/.