JERUSALEM (VINnews) — In a change of policy from previous periods, the Israeli army’s chief rabbinate has permitted the burial of gentile soldiers adjacent to Jewish soldiers, although the grave of the gentile soldiers will be dug 20 cm deeper and will include an internal barrier around the coffin separating it from the adjacent graves of Jewish soldiers, according to a Kan news report Monday.
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Previously gentile soldiers were buried 4 amos (2 meters) away from their Jewish comrades,with a tree or bench placed between the graves, and prior to 2017 they were buried in a separate section of the cemetery. However in recent years objections had been raised over this policy, since the gentile soldiers fight side by side with their Jewish compatriots and do not want to be separated from them after death. There is also halachic backing for burying the soldiers together, since the Talmud (Gittin 61a) states that gentiles can be buried together with Jews “for the sake of peace.”
Army chief Rabbi Eyal Krim authorized the new policy in conjunction with the Defense Ministry in which gentile graves will not be separated above the ground and only below ground level there will be a barrier between the graves and a difference in their levels.
I’m not going to claim that I know what the policy should be. But I hope that gedolei yisroel were consulted before deciding something like this.
You think the gentile soldiers want this?
Or is it perhaps the Jews who want this?
…makes a difference.
This is a rabbi? Too bad any body can be called a rabbi today. Don’t need to know anything.
Jews are not to be buried with goyim…..