I could spend time googling it, but I’ll just ask it here - doesn’t Jewish law (or at the very least custom) require that a body be buried within 24 hours of death? If that is so, how does this affect criminal investigations? Are some concessions made to the practicalities of conducting autopsies and post-mortem police investigations within realistic time frames?
You might not be getting a ton of replies tonight.
When my dad died he was 55, in perfect health, on no medication, etc. He was at his ideal weight and extremely active. It was a shock, he just didn’t wake up one morning.
My mom was told there’d be an autopsy. Duh. I heard later that she freaked out over the idea of an autopsy, that it was against her religious beliefs. She was Jewish, my dad wasn’t.
So, there wasn’t an autopsy! I was pretty pissed off, as his cause of death potentially had information for my future, but I just kept my mouth shut. The family doctor called it a heart attack even though there was no evidence for that.
I’m 63. Spent my mid fifties waiting for the reaper, but I’m still here.
Shalom.
I’ll chime in although I’m not adding much. My husband died on a Friday. He was in ICU so though devastating, his death was not unexpected. However, the timing meant I had to run around locating paperwork (DD-214) to get arrangements set up asap at local military cemetery. No funerals allowed on Saturday, so he should have been buried on Sunday, but the rabbi allowed a little wiggle room for kids to fly in and it happened on Monday.
There is a long waiting list to be buried at Ft. Sam Houston cemetery-- when my daughter-in-law (not Jewish) died, it was two weeks after her funeral before interment could happen-- but Jews get moved to the front of the line because of the 24-hour thing. I could be wrong, but I believe Islam has the same requirements about autopsies and being buried within 24 hours. So I guess Muslims also get moved to the front of the interment line.
So, yeah, more replies from the Jewish folk around here likely after sundown Saturday.
Require, no. It’s custom, but burial can be delayed for a variety of reasons.
When my dad passed away in September the Jewish doctor at a Jewish hospital asked if we wanted to have an autopsy done. Give he was 83 and had been ill for years, we declined. The funeral was the following day.
What’s our rabbi going to do if we wanted an autopsy? Refuse to bury him afterwards?
The Rabbi wouldn’t care. It’s not a law, but a custom. A strongly held one, but not one that isn’t routinely set aside for a variety of reasons.
Ah, yes, the tradition of asking questions pertaining to Jewish law and custom late on Friday…