Yeshiva
Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Bereshit
- Vayechi
Embalming is the filling of parts of a dead body
with (aromatic) substances to prevent decay &
putrefaction. Egyptians, experts at this ancient
art, believed an embalmed body insured a pleasant
after-life. Some poskim hold that embalming is
allowed in certain circumstances, such as for a
delayed burial like Yakov’s, due to honoring the
dead (kavod ha-met).Others allow it only if no
cuts are made in the body, while others prohibit
any type of embalming whatsoever & this is the
normative Halacha today, because the decay of
the body is a necessary element in the granting
of kapara, atonement. In fact, if the deceased
left orders to be embalmed after his death, we
disregard those instructions. As for Yakov &
Yosef, both of whom were embalmed, some say Yakov
asked to be embalmed; others say Yosef erred by
allowing/ordering Yakov to be embalmed; still
others say that, as VIP’s in Egypt, the ruling
authorities would have insisted that these great
men, like the Pharaohs, should also be embalmed.
Rabbis in Midrash
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Various Events FOR WHOM NOT TO VOTE
Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook stressed that Israeli politics is G-dly, so I have no problem answering this common question on a Torani blog. Also, Free-Will is a G-d-given right and obligation, to "destine one's fate" (R. Soloveichik, Kol Dodi Dofek, 67), so I obviously don't tell others how to vote. But once not a few (especially young) have already asked, a couple of personal words from experience and thoughts from chazal & Rav Kook which may be of help to others, mainly for whom NOT to vote.
P'ninat Mishpat Fallout from Failure to Install Elevator – part II
based on ruling 85007 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
