Avodah Mailing List

Volume 44: Number 19

Sun, 29 Mar 2026

• 1. composting? (Michael Poppers)
• 2. Re: composting? (Akiva Miller)
• 3. Re: composting? (Jonathan J Baker)
• 4. Re: individualism (Zvi Lampel)
• 5. Re: individualism (Micha Berger)

RJIR in Avodah V44n18:
> A recent Wall Street Journal article examined an emerging practice of
human composting as a solution to cemetery space shortages. The process
involves natural organic reduction transforming bodies into nutrient-rich
soil using microbes, clover, hay, and straw in sealed vessels over 40 days.
Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery plans on adopting this method. What does
halacha ha[ve] to say on this?
Bsorot Tovot
Joel Rich <
See
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/6067395/jewish/Is-Human-Composting-Permitted-in-Judaism.htm
.  If the author is accurate in describing the process as including "bones
and teeth...are crushed into small fragments, similar to what is done
following cremation" because they "don't entirely disintegrate due to their
mineral composition", I would humbly agree that this point alone is
problematic Halachically, as we should not be actively participating in
decomposition.

Speaking as a Rosh of the Chevra Kadisha in my community, we look forward
(as REMT *z'l'* would say) to going out of business with the fulfillment of
"*bila hamaves lanetzach umacha H' Eloqim dim-a mei-al kal_panim*." All the
best
(including wishes for a Chag Kasher v'Sameach!) from
*Michael Poppers* * Elizabeth, NJ, USA
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.
R' Joel Rich asked:
> A recent Wall Street Journal article examined an emerging
> practice of human composting as a solution to cemetery space
> shortages. The process involves natural organic reduction
> transforming bodies into nutrient-rich soil using microbes,
> clover, hay, and straw in sealed vessels over 40 days....
> What does halacha has to say on this?

Disclaimer: I know nothing of this procedure other than what was written
here.

I concede that clover, hay, and straw do sound very natural and organic.
But "sealed vessels over 40 days" does *not* sound natural. I suggest that
it might be more accurate to describe this process not as "natural", but as
"human-assisted nature", or "human-accelerated nature".

From the few halachos that I know of this, we require the decomposition to
be *totally* natural, and this ain't that.

(If anyone suggests that drilling holes into a wooden coffin also
constitutes accelerated decomposition, I would respond vehemently that
those holes do no acceleration. Rather, to a small extent, they merely
remove the impediment of the existence of the wood coffin - which some omit
entirely.)

Akiva Miller
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I suppose it depends what happens with the bones.  Do the bones 
themselves decompose with the soft tissue, or not?

If they do, it's just an accelerated version of the normal burial 
process.  We put holes in the casket, or in Israel bury in cloth, davka 
to speed the decomposition of the body and return it to soil.

If they don't, it would seem more like the process used in the Mishnaic 
period - temporary cave burial while the soft tissue decomposes, then 
removal of bones to an ossuary for long-term storage.  If part of the 
object is space saving, ossuaries are smaller than caskets.

Either way, I don't see a halachic objection.

jjba...@panix.com    Jonathan Baker    http://www.panix.com/~jjbaker/

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 Joel Rich posted:

From, The Paths of Providence -Chaim Gross:


One of the hallmarks of modernity was the adoption (in the 18th and 19th
> centuries) of individualism as the basis by which political and social
> groups are structured. This principle values the individual over the
> community to a much greater extent than under previous political and social
> systems; the focus is on the moral worth of each person, and the freedom
> by each person to achieve his separate goals and desires.


... according to longstanding Jewish tradition ... the main emphasis has
> always been on the community. The Torah typically addresses itself to the
> nation in its entirety.



> ... Thoughts?


Rabbi Berel Wein z"l with a different nuance:

https://www.rabbiwein.com/blog/post-2225

[In contrast to the] Marxist view [in which] ...  great external forces
such as the competition of the classes, stages of economic development and
powerful historical and sociological forces somehow determine human
behavior and explain human history as well as current events ... Judaism
sees history as the work of individuals, who, because of their own free
will and individuality, shape events, form ideas and influence the progress
of human civilization. Individuals created Judaism and the Jewish nation
was formed by the actions and beliefs of individuals ....

[On the other hand.] Too much individuality can lead to narcissism and
arrogance. No individuality makes life meaningless and without true
purpose. Judaism always preaches balance in life in order to avoid social,
intellectual and religious pitfalls.
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On Wed, Mar 25, 2026 at 08:38:03AM -0400, Zvi Lampel via Avodah wrote:
> Rabbi Berel Wein z"l with a different nuance:
> https://www.rabbiwein.com/blog/post-2225
...
> [On the other hand.] Too much individuality can lead to narcissism and
> arrogance. No individuality makes life meaningless and without true
> purpose. Judaism always preaches balance in life in order to avoid social,
> intellectual and religious pitfalls.

R Shimon used the mashal of parts of an engine.

Me: Some people are like the spark pluges or pistons, parts of the engine
that everyone knows about, and their importance is obvious.

And yet...

Paraphrasing R Shimon: Even the smallest screw could have a critical job,
without which the engine wouldn't run.

We each get our value from helping the kelal. And each of us are unique,
with a unique role to play, and that role is critical. Whether flashy
or living in obscurity.

But the same is true of Kelal Yisrael as a whole.

Jewish Peoplehood is a balance between Particularism and Universalism. We
have to build a uniquely Jewish People, but that People is a Mamlekhes
Kohanim serving the rest of humanity, an Or laGoyim.

--


out in his Tradition article, The Community
<https://traditiononline.org/the-community/>.
He deals with an entirely different paradigm, and a different aspect
of your question.

The antinomy runs as follows (typos mine, Tradition only has page scans):

    Is the individual an independent free entity, who gives up aspects
    of his sovereignty in order to live within a communal framework;
    or is the reverse true: the individual is born into the community
    which, in turn, invests him with certain rights?
...
    And let us give a simple answer: Judaism rejects both alternatives:
    neither theory, per se, is true. But experiences, that of aloneness,
    as well as that of togetherness, are inseparable basic elements of
    the I-awareness.

(Go to the article to see how this plays out in the Torah, starting
with parashas Bereishis.)

Humans form a society because no person can meet their own needs alone.
We need coopertation. So society exists to serve individuals.

But it is equally true that a person's calling includes serving society.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Life is a stage and we are the actors,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   but only some of us have the script.
Author: Widen Your Tent                  - Rav Menachem Nissel
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF


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