Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

Cremation has become an increasingly popular way of final disposition of remains in the United States. Today there is a 60% cremation rate. By 2040 cremation is expected to account for 80% of all funerals. Yet, the Jewish way of dealing with death is through burial.

I heard a beautiful explanation of the process life and death by Rabbi David Small at a funeral I attended recently which sheds light on why we Jews bury our dead in the ground. The Book of Genesis teaches that when God created mankind, God formed Adam from the earth. The inanimate form of man was then “kissed” by God, and the first person became “alive”. “The Lord formed man from the dust of the earth. He blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7)

When a person dies, that “breath of life” returns to God. We humans are left with the body, which we return to earth through burial. Thus, we partner with God to complete the cycle – from “the breath of life”, returning to the Source of Life, to the return of the body to earth, to everlasting life in the World to Come.