question about non-Jews participating on a tahara team

[Elizabeth Feldman]

Hello chevre - Many years ago, I remember that Rabbi Elliot Dorff gave the opinion that as long as there were at least a couple of Jews (like the rosheh and one another) on a tahara team, it would be fine to have non-Jews also on the team. I don't recall talking about whether they were partners/spouses of someone on the team, if they were helping out when the team needed another pair of hands, etc.

I'm curious how various chevrot have addressed this issue.

Thanks!
Liz Feldman

PCK (Progressive Chevra Kadisha, Chicago)

[Patricia Cluss]

We have discussed this in our chevra and have set the policy that all members of a taharah team need to be Jewish, even if that means a team needs to be smaller than optimal. I'm sure we might think differently if we were in a small town with fewer Jewish people available. I'll be interested in what others think.

Pat (she/her)

Pittsburgh, PA

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[Nancy Luberoff]

Our Chevra is synagogue-based and require that members of the Chevra also be members of the synagogue.  We instituted this policy after local Messianic “Jews” asked to be members of our Chevra.  It was cleaner to have a blanket policy than to have to vet outside requests to join the Chevra.  Remarkably, several individuals have joined the synagogue because they wanted to be part of the Chevra. 

We have had several synagogue members join the Chevra while going through the conversion process.  I don’t think we’ve had requests from non-Jews to join, but we would welcome them, just as we welcome them to other parts of religious life at our Reform synagogue.

Here is the caveat.  We had a situation a few years ago where we prepared a body for burial at an Orthodox cemetery in New York.  The cemetery would not honor our tahara because we couldn’t confirm that all the members of the Chevra team were halachically Jewish.  Shockingly, they disturbed the body and performed a second tahara.

Nancy Luberoff

Judea Reform Congregation Chevra Kadisha

Durham, North Carolina

[HollyBlue Hawkins]

Who is eligible for any given Chevra's Taharah team is an important question, with nuanced answers. For some Chevra Kadisha groups, criteria for admission is based on whether or not a candidate is a shomer Shabbat Jew; end of story. For others, simply being Jewish (whether by DNA or Beit Din), is sufficient. From this perspective, eligibility of the team members is the paramount consideration. 

However, there are both aspirational and pragmatic considerations, and from my perspective the top priority is that a decedent is eligible for a Taharah, by virtue of a team being available to perform the ceremony. I do feel strongly that there should be a Jew present to offer the prayers and that the hands-on team members--Jewish or not--have the capacity to hold sacred space and provide the necessary skillfulness to accomplish the hands-on tasks with grace, care, and respect.

Yes, it is ideal for all the team members to be Jewish (by their agreed-upon standards). But deep in the diaspora it can sometimes be challenging to find a group of Jews who are qualified and available to perform the mitzvah. Is that any reason to deny a deceased Jewish person the final blessing of Taharah? 

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HollyBlue Hawkins

JADE Curriculum Designer

[Elizabeth Feldman]

HollyBlue - Thank you so much for this! And I believe your explanation is the same as what Rabbi Dorff advised many years ago - there should be at least one Jew. And of course, as long as folks hold to both Kavod HaMet and Nichum Avelim, it's good. I understand the political or other reasons (ie. to deal with messianic Jews) to limit it in places where that would not be a hardship. 

Warmly,

Liz

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Liz Feldman, MD (she/her)

Evanston, Illinois