Ask the Rabbis | Is Cremation Still Off Limits For Jews?
INDEPENDENT All of the sources generally cited as making cremation off limits (Shulchan Aruch, Yorah De’ah 348:3 and 362:1) assume burial in the earth. Our bodies are ours to take care of, the Torah tells us, and not ours to in any way defile (Leviticus 19:28 and Deuteronomy 14:1). This is why we have for thousands of years honored the body with burial in the earth, to accommodate its return to the elements at the most organic and natural pace possible. So yes, burial—along with all of its accompanying rituals of honoring the dead—is preferable. But is cremation actually forbidden? A...
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