Question:
The Director of CANRA has asked the following question of the Responsa Committee:
A memorandum from the quartermaster general's office (Memorial Division) describes the procedure which will be followed in bringing bodies from overseas to the next of kin. After the bodies will be brought to the various distribution centers in this country they will be sent to the nearest of kin in accordance with directions given by the nearest of kin. It is further planned to furnish an individual escort for the body when sending it from the distribution center to the nearest of kin. This individual escort will be a member of the same arm of service as the deceased; thus an Army Air Force man for air forces, a Marine or Marines, etc. Owing to the multiplicity of sects in our country and the difficulty of obtaining appropriately trained escorts for all denominations from the limited resources of a peacetime Army and Navy, it has been decided not to regard the religion of the deceased in providing the escort.
In reference to this memorandum the Director asks: asks: "Should we insist with the War Department that a Jew must accompany the body of a Jewish soldier from the distribution center to the nearest of kin?"
Answer:
Before going into the question of the attitude of Jewish law, it is of interest to know what the desires of other denominations are likely to be in this matter. Upon inquiry from a high Catholic source the chairman ascertained that Catholics will almost certainly not ask that Catholic personnel be detailed to escort the bodies of Catholic soldiers. We may well assume that Protestants also will refrain from making such a request. If, then, we made the request, we would be the only major denomination declaring that members of other religious groups are in-acceptable to us as escorts. In that case the general principle of Mippene Darchei Shalom should be considered before we decide to insist.
If there is a clear requirement in Jewish law that only Jews accompany the body of a Jew, then of course, we must override the principle of Darchei Shalom in behalf of the requirement of religious conscience. Is there such a requirement in Jewish law?
Whenever the escorting of bodies is mentioned in Talmudic literature, the reference is generally to a son escorting the bones of his father (m. Moed Katan I,5 and Talmud ad loc.; Semachoth Chapter XIV). It is, of course, the natural situation that it should be the son who is engaged in this task, and no general conclusion can be drawn from that as to the participation of non-relatives or even non-Jews. As for the relationship of non-Jews to the burial of a Jew, the law is clear, that just as a Jew may actively participate in the burying of a non-Jew, so may a non-Jew participate in the burying of a Jew. Thus: "It is permitted to sustain their poor, to visit their sick, to bury their dead and to pronounce eulogies and console them M'shum Darchei Shalom". (Shulchan Aruch Yore Deah 151 #12; 367, #1; based upon the Talmud b. Gittin 61a.)
Also under special circumstances Christians may participate in the burial of a Jew. If a Jew dies on the first day of a festival, Jews are not permitted to attend the burial. Since the burial may not be delayed the physical work of the burial must be done by non-Jews. It is forbidden to keep the body over to the second day so that Jews alone shall do the work of the burial (Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayyim 536 #1 and #2). This law in the Codes (it is also in the Tur) is based upon the Talmud (b. Betsa 7a). As to the specific tasks to be done by the Gentiles see the Talmud ad. loc., and Kitsur Shulchan Aruch 200 #1.
This is, of course, a special circumstance, but it indicates that it is not contrary to Jewish law that a Gentile participate in the work of burying a Jew. Since the law permits actual participation in the burying, then surely the mere escorting of the dead is permitted, especially since the Army authorities inform us that it is impossible to assure escorts of the religion of each deceased soldier.
Although Jewish law does not require us to insist upon a Jewish escort in the circumstances, the CANRA may, nevertheless, decide that a Jewish escort is desirable. In that case we must base our request upon another ground than a requirement of Jewish law. We may state that the participation in the burial of the dead is for Jews a sacred privilege. Organizations which devote themselves to this task are called "Holy Societies". We, therefore, ask the privilege of adding a Jewish veteran to the official escort provided by the Army. Such a request if granted would involve a great deal of planning and considerable expense, and the CANRA will have to decide whether in the light of all the above mentioned considerations it will undertake the task.