A burial worker in northern Israel circumcised the body of a recently deceased man before his funeral last week, without the family’s knowledge or consent, according to a complaint filed with the Ministry of Religious Services.
Zaman Israel, the Hebrew-language sister site of the Times of Israel, reported on Wednesday that the alleged incident took place in the northern city of Nahariya and was carried out by a volunteer worker with no experience on the instructions of the head of the local religious council.
The complaint was lodged by Avital Keren, a fellow employee at the cemetery, who told Zaman Israel that this was a gross violation of norms at a Jewish funeral.
“At the end of the purification process, they found that the deceased had not been circumcised — something that sometimes happens with immigrants from the former Soviet Union,” Keren said.
Under normal circumstances, says Keren, permission is requested from the family and, if permission is granted, an experienced mohel is brought in to perform a symbolic circumcision, noting that if the family refuses, traditional Jewish There is no restriction on performing last rites.
“In this case, one of the volunteers called the caretaker manager and told him that the deceased was not circumcised. The manager, without thinking twice, told the volunteer, ‘Take a knife and circumcise him,'” he said .
Avital Keren working at the Nahariya cemetery. (courtesy the photographer)
“It is against all existing laws and a very serious act. It is a surgical procedure and it is strictly prohibited to do it without consent.”
The daughter of the deceased told Zaman Israel that she was horrified by the report.
The head of the burial society denied the incident.
But Avi Levy, a former manager of the cemetery, claimed that such incidents had happened before, and that religious officials tried to pressure them to speed up or shorten the procedures surrounding the circumcision of the deceased. Ki – pressure which he strongly rejected.
“I was shocked by the comment. Even in my time, they tried more than once,” he said. “They said, ‘Blind your eyes, we’re people of Jewish law, we’re allowed to,'” Levy said.
Levy said, “I always made sure to ask the family and there was a time when the family refused to circumcise, and we buried the dead man uncircumcised.”
Circumcision performed on a dead body without the permission of the family is tantamount to performing an autopsy without the consent of relatives, and violates a law that respects a person’s autonomy even after death.
