Tahara for Cremation

Q: Do we do a tahara for someone who is going to be cremated?

A: I asked this question to Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l, and his psak was that we should not do a tahara for someone who will be cremated. The purpose of a tahara is to prepare the deceased for kevurah, and ultimately, techiyas hameisim.

Cremation is a concrete denial and repudiation of techiyas hameisim. Tahara is about sanctification — elevating the physical body and affirming its inherent kedusha. Cremation is the very opposite: it desecrates the body, utterly incinerating it and represents a rejection of its sanctity. Doing a tahara for someone who will be cremated is ludicrous. It provides no benefit to the niftar and runs counter to the entire spiritual and halachic intent of tahara. 

Furthermore, if the chevra kadisha were to do a tahara simply to honor the family’s request, it would create the impression — to the family, the funeral home and the community — that tahara followed by cremation is an acceptable option within Jewish tradition. Instead, it should be explained to the family that the meaning and purpose of tahara lie in preparing the body for kevurah — and without that, tahara has no significance.  

Additionally, there’s a possibility that the chevra’s refusal to do a tahara may cause the family to reconsider cremation. I remember a case where after explaining this to the family, they changed their minds and decided not to cremate their relative. 

It is worth noting that while Rav Moshe zt”l’s psak to me was as stated above, there is a well-known sefer that quotes Rav Moshe zt”l as permitting a tahara before a cremation. I spent time researching the source of that psak and discovered that he had, in fact, made an exception in an unusual case.

There was a woman in a certain community who was quite traditional and had been a generous supporter of many local Jewish institutions. In her will, she requested to be cremated — but she also explicitly asked for a tahara. Her daughter, who was not observant, was determined to follow her mother’s wishes. She requested the funeral home to arrange for both a tahara and cremation, but the chevra kadisha refused to do the tahara. The local rav was inclined to support the position of the chevra, but because of the family’s  prominence, he consulted Rav Moshe zt’’l for guidance. 

After hearing the details, Rav Moshe zt’’l issued a surprising psak. He said that since this woman had the great merit of supporting Torah institutions, and because she herself had insisted on a tahara, the chevra kadisha should perform it — and then, in his words, “we’ll see”. The implication was that perhaps the tahara would be a zechus for her to ultimately  receive kevurah.

The chevra followed Rav Moshe’s directive and performed the tahara. The next morning, the daughter showed up  at the funeral home in a panic, desperate to know if her mother had already been cremated. She shared that her mother had come to her in a dream during the night, pleading “Please don’t cremate me!” Thankfully, the cremation had not yet taken place — and, in the end, just as Rav Moshe zt’’l had foreseen, she merited kevurah. 

It is very clear to me that this remarkable story does not reflect a change in the psak of Rav Moshe zt’’l. Rather, it was a one-time exception made by a gadol hador in response to an extraordinary set of circumstances.