Menachem Mendel

Lion of Zion has written the following about the recent events in Israel,

Ynet has reported on Zaka’s assistance in exhuming the bodies of the terrorists that will be transferred to Lebanon tomorrow. I would have assumed that the justification for Zaka’s participation is to ensure that nearby Jewish graves (if any) are not disturbed and that Jewish bodies are not mistakingly returned instead of Arab ones.

One volunteer, however, spoke to Ynet about Zaka’s role and cast it within a different context: “we take care of all bodies without distinguishing between race, religion or sex. We see this as a mission to care for all men created in the image [of God].”

Huh? An organization that spends so much of its time (and your money) cleaning up after terror attacks considers terrorists to be worthy of their care within the context of a humanitarian mission?

I think that the quoted statement of the Zaka member is entirely in line with Jewish tradition. Despite the reprehensible actions that an individual has done in their life, they still are created in the image of God, and we are commanded to treat their corpse with respect. We read in Deut. 21:23
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לֹא־תָלִין נִבְלָתוֹ עַל־הָעֵץ כִּי־קָבוֹר תִּקְבְּרֶנּוּ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא כִּי־קִלְלַת אֱלֹהִים תָּלוּי וְלֹא תְטַמֵּא אֶת־אַדְמָתְךָ אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לְךָ נַחֲלָה

“you must not let his corpse remain on the stake overnight, but must bury him the same day. For an impaled body is an affront to God: you shall not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.”

Even the executed criminal’s body should not have its dignity violated. In Tosefta Sanhedrin 9:7 in the name of Rabbi Meir the following is brought,

היה ר’ מאיר אומ’ מה תלמ’ לומר כי קללת אלהים תלוי לשני אחים תאומים דומין זה לזה אחד מלך על כל העולם כולו ואחד יצא לליסטייא לאחר זמן נתפס זה שיצא לליסטיא והיו צולבין אותו על הצלוב והיה כל עובר ושב או’ דומה שהמלך צלוב לכך נאמר כי קללת אלהים תלוי

R. Meir would say: What does the verse teach us, “for an insult to God is a hanging-person?” [It is similar] to two twins who look similar to each other. One ruled over the entire world, and one became a thief. After some time the thief was caught and they crucified him on a cross and all those who passed by said, “It seems like the king is crucified.” Therefore it says “for an insult to God is a hanging-person.”

See bSanhedrin 46b for a parallel with some differences-minus the crucifiction, and Rashi on the above verse where he seems to limit it to apply only to Jews. R. Shlomo Goren has written about the treatment that corpses of the enemy should receive, and he says that respectful treatment of the enemy corpses is in line with Jewish tradition, citing Rashi on 2 Kings 8:13 and 1 Kings 11:15. He explicitly ties this approach to the fact that all human beings are created in the image (tzelem) of God (Gen. 9:6). See his Meishiv Milchama, vol. I, pp. 38-40.

Scoundrels they may be, but that does not deny their corpse respect.

Posted on July 16th, 2008 under Uncategorized • RSS 2.0 feed • You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed