Buried Alive? The Decree That Challenged Jewish Burial Law

About two hundred and fifty years ago, stories circulated throughout Western Europe about people presumed dead who suddenly awoke during their own funerals. One woman was declared dead, but as her coffin was carried, faint knocking was heard from inside. The coffin was opened, and she emerged alive. In another case, as a child was being lowered into the grave, he opened his eyes and called out for his mother.

In response to such reports, the Duke of Mecklenburg decreed that a bell be installed inside every coffin, so that if someone awoke they could alert their family.

Jewish Caution and Sensitivity

Even earlier, Rabbi Yosef of Frankfurt wrote with great sensitivity on this issue. In his work Yosef Ometz, written in the year 5600, he warned that declaring someone dead too quickly was both a prohibition and a disgrace to the deceased. He noted that cases had occurred in which people revived after burial, and when graves were later opened due to flooding, signs of distress were tragically found inside the coffins. Because of this concern, a local custom developed not to remove the deceased from the home until three hours had passed after death.

A Clash with Jewish Law

The Duke of Mecklenburg, however, was not satisfied with such measures. He ruled that three full days must pass before burial, to ensure that death was certain. This decree directly contradicted Jewish law, which requires prompt burial and forbids unnecessary delay and humiliation of the deceased.

The Jewish communities of Germany turned to Moses Mendelssohn, the Berlin scholar and a leading figure of the Haskalah movement. Mendelssohn suggested that the concern about delaying burial was greater in hot climates, where decomposition begins quickly, and that in colder lands such as Germany, perhaps some delay might be tolerable.

The Firm Response of the Gaon of Vilna

The Gaon of Vilna strongly rejected this approach. He sent a sharp letter to Mendelssohn, warning him not to interfere in matters of halacha and not to propose changes to the ancient burial customs of the Jewish people.

In the end, the decree was annulled, and traditional Jewish burial practices remained unchanged.