Fredrika Shavit v. Rishon Lezion Jewish Burial Society

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Elon’s opinion: Regarding the aforementioned ruling on the use of non-Hebrew dates, and the reasons it is allowed, see Responsa Yabia Omer (by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef), part three, Yoreh Deah, 9, and Responsa Tzitz Eliezer (by Rabbi Eliezer Veldinberg) part nine – two of the most important Jewish legal authorities of our time. Kestenbaum [6] at 489 (emphasis mine – I.E.). However, he obviously did not examine the matter very thoroughly, since he failed differentiate between the use of Christian dates on everyday letters and business correspondence and their inscription on gravestones. In Responsa Tzitz Eliezer, part nine, chapter 100B [58], on which Justice Elon supposedly relied, the writer rules explicitly that, regarding gravestones, “… this borders on a desecration of God’s name.” Despite the assumption that guided this Court in Gideon and Kestenbaum, no dispensation to carve Christian dates on gravestones is found in Jewish legal literature. All the authorities who were asked forbade the inscribing of Christian dates, as the rabbi of Rishon Lezion ruled in the case at bar. 15. In order to clarify the Jewish legal problem, I will cite in full the response of the Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, in Responsa Yabia Omer, part seven, Yoreh Deah, 32 ch. 100B [59]: Regarding the question of the permissibility of carving on a gravestone the name of the deceased in foreign letters and the date of death, Rabbi Moshe Shick (Choshen Hamishpat, ch. 56) was asked about this in a case where someone went against the local custom and erected a gravestone for a family member on which he carved the name of the deceased in the Hungarian script. Rabbi Shick condemned this act for several reasons. Firstly, a cemetery has the legal status of a ‘shared courtyard’, and even in the most mundane matter one of the partners is not allowed to change anything without the agreement of all those who share the courtyard, as was established for us in Choshen
Shavit v. Rishon Letzion Jewish Burial Society CA 6024/97 Hamishpat (ch. 154). This is all the more true regarding a custom that our forebears have followed from time immemorial. In such a case, not even the management of the Jewish burial society is licensed to make a change without the agreement of the local rabbi and the majority of the community. Even if the custom is changed for sake of the dignity of one particular deceased person, that person may end up causing disgrace and harm to the dignity of other deceased … The rule is that the customs of Israel are like Biblical laws, and it is forbidden to change them in any way. Secondly, a cemetery is a holy and pure place, as it is written in Elia Raba (ch. 581) in the name of Rabbi Yaakov Molin. We need to treat a cemetery with respect, as it is written in Yoreh Deah (ch. 368) that it is forbidden to engage in frivolous behavior there, that one may not eat or drink there, or stroll there for leisure. Even the group that looks after the dead is called the hevra kadisha [Jewish burial society, lit: the holy brotherhood – trans.], because the world of the dead is the world of truth, and it is called the world of clarity where the righteous are exalted and the wicked cast down, as it is written in Tractate Baba Batra (10). Therefore, the custom in the Diaspora is that gravestones are inscribed only in the Holy Tongue, the language with which the world was created, in which the Torah and all the Holy Writings were given and in which God spoke to all the prophets of Israel. An inscription on a grave in another language causes disgrace to the dead, and indicates that he belongs to the world of falsehood. There is also a concern lest the law against acting like non-Jews be transgressed, and thus the Jewish burial society must be on guard not to allow any change in the holy customs of the Jews. Responsa Shaare Tzedek (Yoreh Deah ch. 199) was asked about this and answered that it is simple and clear that there is a serious prohibition against changing the ancient Jewish custom of carving the name and the epitaph on a gravestone in the Holy
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Fredrika Shavit v. Rishon Lezion Jewish Burial Society

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