Nadene Goldfoot
Some 48 hostages of which 20 were to be delivered alive of hostages are to be returned to their parents from Hamas terrorists. Trump and others have inferred their wonder at such a demand. The war was triggered by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, when some 1,200 people were killed and 251 kidnapped.
The release of the hostages from Gaza is expected to begin on Monday morning, Hamas and Israeli officials said over the weekend, though some uncertainty remains regarding the timing.
Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement reached on Thursday, the IDF had 24 hours to complete its initial withdrawal in Gaza. Hamas was given a window of 72 hours after the withdrawal to release the 48 hostages, 20 of whom are thought to be alive.
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A poster of hostage Bipin Joshi, a citizen of Nepal, is displayed at the protest camp for hostages kidnapped during the deadly October 7 attack, in the vicinity of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Jerusalem residence, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem. (photo credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS) - Deceased status confirmed on October 13: On the day of the exchange, two additional hostages, Bipin Joshi and Tamir Nimrodi, were confirmed dead by Hamas. Their status had previously been a cause for "grave concern". The body of Joshi was among the four returned that day. Bipin Joshi, a Nepali national who arrived in Israel in an agricultural educational work program just three weeks before his kidnapping, has been published in Hamas’ list of the four bodies of hostages set to return to Israel on Monday night, hours after the release of the remaining 20 living hostages.
Proper burial is a sacred duty in Judaism because it returns the body to the earth, from which it came, to allow the soul to rest and return to its source.
This tradition is rooted in the belief that the body is a sacred vessel that housed a divine spark, and the burial process respects this sanctity by facilitating natural decomposition and aiding the soul's transition to the afterlife.
This concept is reiterated later in the Torah (Deut. 14), where we are commanded to bury the dead: "You shall bury him on that day." The Talmud adds that burying the dead emulates the actions of G-d, for He buried the dead (as the Torah writes of Moshe).
Therefore, cremation violates a biblical command of burying the dead. Furthermore, humankind was created in the Divine image, and this includes the body, which is of reason why there are many prohibitions on the mutilation of the body. This principle applies after death as well as during one's life, and there is a severe prohibition of mutilating or otherwise disgracing a dead body. Of course, cremation is a severe mutilation, and it strikes against the image of G-d latent in us.
The practice is also a way to honor the deceased and show communal responsibility. Israel has always honored this and never leaves bodies but brings themhome. Today, the State of Israel has even been prepared to release terrorists in exchange for the dead body of its Jewish citizens, in order that they should be brought to proper burial.
According to the kabbalistic tradition, the soul remains over the body for a number of days after death, and cremation would be a terrible agony for the soul.
A further point is our belief in the resurrection of the dead. Cremation is a statement of unbelief in the resurrection.
- Spiritual progress: The Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, taught that death is a great advantage for the soul, allowing it to ascend to a higher spiritual state. The loss is primarily for the bereaved family, not the soul itself. The soul's ultimate destination is determined by its deeds in life, not the circumstances of death.
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