BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — The first Jewish victim of the coronavirus in Argentina was cremated by local authorities despite protests from the local Jewish community.
Ruben Bercovich, a 59-year-old businessman and father of three, died on Thursday in Resistencia, the capital of the northern Chaco province. Bercovich, owner of the BercoMat construction materials company, had returned to Argentina on March 9 after a trip to the United States.
Cremation of the dead is not allowed under religious Jewish law, but Argentine authorities said its the best practice to avoid further spread of the disease.. Officials have begun a dialogue with Argentine rabbis over a possible compromise.
In Israel, Rabbi Kenneth Brander, rosh yeshiva of the Israeli Ohr Torah Stone network and former vice president at Yeshiva University had comforting words for families who are facing the possibility of cremating their loved ones.
“The highest honor that a person who isn’t alive can achieve is to help the living,” said Brander. While Judaism normally deems cremation a “desecration,” in the context of saving a life it would be seen as “a mitzvah that the deceased is doing posthumously.”
