About 5 months ago it was reported that a woman in Kiryat Malachi had gone to visit her husband's grave and discovered that in the plot she had purchased adjacent to her husbands grave was buried a different women! She sued, demanding the dead body be exhumed, and that the religious council pay 50,000 NIS in damages. The judge gave time for Chief Rabbi Amar to investigate and decide whether the body could be exhumed or not.
According to Kikar, a decision has finally been arrived at. In an unusual decision, Rabbi Amar said that the buried woman should be exhumed and moved to a different grave.
After attempts to reach a compromise, offering alternate plots, moving the husband's body to a different section and giving her an adjacent grave (in the original section the plots are next to each other, from head to foot, but not adjacent side by side) were unsuccessful, Rav Amar decided the only option was to remove the body and rebury her in a different plot. She was buried in a plot that belonged to someone else, and she must be moved.
The body has not been moved yet, as this was Rav Amar's decision, but the court still has to give its final decision on the case before it.
why was moving the husbands body an acceptable alternative to offer, but not moving the wrong womens body?
ReplyDeletegood question. i didnt think of that. you are right that if somebody's body was going to be moved, it is the same problem or solution for each one. I dont think that was the issue. I think the issue was that the womans family didnt want her exhumed. So, if the wife would be willing to agree to a solution that would exhume the husband and give them a better burial situation (right next to each other instead of head to foot), everybody would be happy
ReplyDeleteI hope that the Chevra Kadisha pays heavily for their mistake.
ReplyDelete