# Religions where they have to save removed body pieces for burial when person dies. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 18, 2011, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religions-where-they-have-to-save-removed-body-pieces-for-burial-when-person-dies/582274 "2011-05-18T01:42:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religions-where-they-have-to-save-removed-body-pieces-for-burial-when-person-dies/582274/1 "2011-05-18T01:42:09Z")
This is a question for when a person is of a religious persuasion that believes they have to bury all the body parts removed over the years with the person when they die. A person dies and isn’t found for a number of days. The pets locked in the house eat most of the body. Do they have to buy the animal feces in the the coffin? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religions-where-they-have-to-save-removed-body-pieces-for-burial-when-person-dies/582274/2 "2011-05-18T02:18:13Z")
Correction: Do they have to bury the animal feces in the the coffin? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religions-where-they-have-to-save-removed-body-pieces-for-burial-when-person-dies/582274/3 "2011-05-18T02:23:38Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religions-where-they-have-to-save-removed-body-pieces-for-burial-when-person-dies/582274/4 "2011-05-18T02:51:16Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > This is a question for when a person is of a religious persuasion that believes they have to bury all the body parts removed over the years with the person when they die. Seriously? What about: - baby teeth? - fingernail clippings? - haircut remains? - razor clippings? - tonsils? - appendix? Seems like there would be a lot of ‘parts’ to save until the person dies. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religions-where-they-have-to-save-removed-body-pieces-for-burial-when-person-dies/582274/5 "2011-05-18T04:51:59Z")
Which religions believe that “they have to bury all the body parts removed over the years with the person when they die?” ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religions-where-they-have-to-save-removed-body-pieces-for-burial-when-person-dies/582274/6 "2011-05-18T05:15:02Z")
In “The Last Emperor”, Egg Chen comments that the Eunuchs have little boxes containing their removed testicles, so they can be buried with them and be whole men in the afterlife. No idea of whether this actually happened in real life. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religions-where-they-have-to-save-removed-body-pieces-for-burial-when-person-dies/582274/7 "2011-05-18T08:03:42Z")
You hear about people that want to bury removed legs and arms with them so they are whole at the end of the world when they rise again. Remove a gallbladder and they want to save it to be put in the coffin when they die. I’m talking about people that believe they will be missing a leg or finger in the afterlife if they don’t bury it with them, not a specific religion. Using the word religion in the title is a problem of having to shorting the title to something displayable in one line. I guess we could go with: A question about people with religious convictions that they will be missing an arm or a leg in the afterlife when the world ends and their body is restored if they don’t have all the parts with them in the coffin. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religions-where-they-have-to-save-removed-body-pieces-for-burial-when-person-dies/582274/8 "2011-05-18T08:29:58Z")
It sounds as if you’ve made up a ridiculous belief that nobody adheres to, and are looking for reasons to mock its hypothetical believers. ---
**Author:** ![Hokkaido\_Brit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d26b3c/32.png) [@Hokkaido\_Brit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hokkaido_Brit)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religions-where-they-have-to-save-removed-body-pieces-for-burial-when-person-dies/582274/9 "2011-05-18T09:17:57Z")
In Japan, (presumably rich!) people had laquered boxes in which they placed their umbilical cord stump, and any hair and nail clippings over the course of their lives and which they hoped would be buried with them for just those reasons. Even today parents are given their baby’s umbilical cord stumps to keep. My first son was born in a private hospital and I got a gold engraved cedar box for it. My second was born in a public university hospital and it was handed to me wrapped in a bit of bandage! Right now, I’m not sure where they are but I didn’t throw them away. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religions-where-they-have-to-save-removed-body-pieces-for-burial-when-person-dies/582274/10 "2011-05-18T09:51:56Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Which religions believe that “they have to bury all the body parts removed over the years with the person when they die?” Judaism (or at least some major denominations thereof). There even exists an Israeli emergency response team, [ZAKA](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZAKA), whose job it is to collect blood and body parts of accident, disaster, and attack victims so that they can “properly” buried. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religions-where-they-have-to-save-removed-body-pieces-for-burial-when-person-dies/582274/11 "2011-05-18T09:53:05Z")
It is an exceedingly weak religion that would believe their god is incapable of resurrecting someone whose corpse was incomplete. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religions-where-they-have-to-save-removed-body-pieces-for-burial-when-person-dies/582274/12 "2011-05-18T11:40:32Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > It is an exceedingly weak religion that would believe their god is incapable of resurrecting someone whose corpse was incomplete. Don’t confuse organized religions with personal religious beliefs. I can’t believe I’m the only person to have met someone with the belief that they would be missing a leg if it wasn’t buried with them. These persons believed their actual body would be resurrected and not a new one given them on resurrection day. I’d ask a person that believed this way instead of on this board if I still knew someone alive that thought this way. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religions-where-they-have-to-save-removed-body-pieces-for-burial-when-person-dies/582274/13 "2011-05-18T11:48:53Z")
By the way I asked this because I knew someone like that decades ago and I read another dogs ate a corpse story. The two things just clicked. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religions-where-they-have-to-save-removed-body-pieces-for-burial-when-person-dies/582274/14 "2011-05-18T12:01:04Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > Don’t confuse organized religions with personal religious beliefs. I can’t believe I’m the only person to have met someone with the belief that they would be missing a leg if it wasn’t buried with them. I am sure there are such unfortunates, who are not only deluded by a myth, but a weak, useless myth. > [@](#): > > These persons believed their actual body would be resurrected and not a new one given them on resurrection day. I’d ask a person that believed this way instead of on this board if I still knew someone alive that thought this way. That would seem to be a disincentive to faith by people of advanced age, or with disabilities or chronic pain. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religions-where-they-have-to-save-removed-body-pieces-for-burial-when-person-dies/582274/15 "2011-05-18T16:42:04Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > It sounds as if you’ve made up a ridiculous belief that nobody adheres to, and are looking for reasons to mock its hypothetical believers. There was a short story based in part on people in the afterlife needing to find their missing body parts. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religions-where-they-have-to-save-removed-body-pieces-for-burial-when-person-dies/582274/16 "2011-05-18T17:01:21Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > It is an exceedingly weak religion that would believe their god is incapable of resurrecting someone whose corpse was incomplete. As **psychonaut** mentions, traditional Judaism stresses the burial of all body parts and blood after death. Some Jews will also make a point of having surgically removed organs buried. AFAIK the organs are just buried as is - you don’t save them and have them buried with you when you die. The reason for this is the principle of respect for human remains (Hebrew: kavod hamet), not God’s inability to resurrect an incomplete corpse. As for the OP’s question, no, they wouldn’t. And I’m not sure why you asked about the animal feces; what about the animals themselves? ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religions-where-they-have-to-save-removed-body-pieces-for-burial-when-person-dies/582274/17 "2011-05-18T22:04:54Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Judaism (or at least some major denominations thereof). There even exists an Israeli emergency response team, [ZAKA](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZAKA), whose job it is to collect blood and body parts of accident, disaster, and attack victims so that they can “properly” buried. While your statement is true, it doesn’t apply to the hypothetical OP. In Judaism, body parts must be buried. They need not, however, be buried with the body at the time of death. For example, my grandfather lost his foot to diabetes. When it was amputated, it was buried. When he passed away several years later, his foot was not exhumed and re-buried with him. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religions-where-they-have-to-save-removed-body-pieces-for-burial-when-person-dies/582274/18 "2011-05-19T04:35:06Z")
Don’t leave us in suspense, Zev … was the foot already there, waiting for him? ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religions-where-they-have-to-save-removed-body-pieces-for-burial-when-person-dies/582274/19 "2011-05-19T04:42:56Z")
The point of burying body parts in traditional Judaism is to give respect for the body that God has given you, by not just dumping pieces of it in the trash. It has nothing to do with resurrection or the afterlife. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religions-where-they-have-to-save-removed-body-pieces-for-burial-when-person-dies/582274/20 "2011-05-19T04:43:24Z")
We’re taught in nursing school that for some patients (Orthodox Jewish people were mentioned specifically) if we have a death, in addition to any organs or body parts that might, uh, fall out, I guess, we should save any large amount of blood - like the soaked bedsheets - because their family might want it. I asked the teacher if we needed to save small routine bandage changes, and she said no, it’s generally only requested at the time of death, and for a large amount of blood - like if someone bleeds to death in the ER. I’m still a little confused as to the parameters of this, but I figure if it becomes important, I’ll learn as I go along. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religions-where-they-have-to-save-removed-body-pieces-for-burial-when-person-dies/582274.md?page=2)