To uphold Jewish law, Hallandale rabbi races to bring bodies

hardwrknmom

Fri, Mar 24 2006, 10:08 am

By Lisa J. Huriash
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted March 24 2006

Rabbi Leibel Miller was in Chile on Thursday dealing with how to return bodies to the United States and the ticking clock of Jewish law.

Miller, of Hallandale Beach, was in the desert "in the middle of nowhere," he said, rushing to get the dead home to New Jersey following a fatal crash. A tour mini-bus carrying 14 tourists, on excursion from a Celebrity Cruise ship, careened off a Chilean mountainside. A dozen people were killed and two were injured.

Miller needed to fly the bodies home by the Sabbath beginning tonight at sundown. Jewish law prohibits flying on the Sabbath and the law also requires the dead be buried as quickly as possible.

Miller, director of the burial society Chevra Kadisha of Chabad Lubavitch of Florida-based in Aventura, was asked by Celebrity Cruises to oversee the return of the remains of the victims, most of whom were senior citizens from a B'nai B'rith chapter in New Jersey. The passengers were on an excursion to Lauca National Park when the accident happened.

"The concept of a Jewish Burial Society is we take responsibility of the internment of our own deceased," said Miller, 50, via cell phone from Chile. "This goes back to our [Biblical] patriarchs. The Jewish people are like one family, and our rituals are very important to us."

Wednesday night, Miller, a father of four, returned to his Broward home from a Chabad fund-raising dinner. At 10:30 p.m., he was putting on his pajamas when the cruise line called. He was on a chartered plane that left South Florida at 1 a.m. Thursday.

He arrived in Chile just after noon.

"I'm here to take care of the spiritual needs and transfer of human remains," Miller said.

The site, Arica, is 1,250 miles north of the capital, Santiago, and Celebrity was flying victims' relatives to the scene Thursday. The Associated Press said the Chilean government and the cruise line distanced themselves from the operator of the tour bus, saying Andino Tours wasn't among the agencies it authorizes to run side trips for passengers.

Dante Noce, Arica's municipal tourism director, identified the dead as: Marvin Bier, 79; Shirley Bier, 76; Miriam Diamond, 76; Hans Wilhelm Otto Eggers, 72; Maria Eggers, 71; Ira Greenfield, 68; Linda Gail Greenfield, 63; Arthur Joseph Kovar, 67; Frieda Kovar, 74; Carole Ellen Rochelman, 63; Barbara Rubin, 69; and Robert Rubin, 72.

Miller worked with the Chilean District Attorney's Office on Thursday to facilitate the paperwork for the flights home. Then, he convinced the Chilean government to allow shipping the bodies without embalming, according to Jewish law and tradition. Embalming is usually required by some countries for shipment.

In Chile, he rented refrigerated containers to store the bodies before he was able to seal them in coffins.

Late in the day he was still working with police to release bloody clothing. Proper Jewish burials call for the entire body to be interred, including blood.

Miller is the Florida representative of ZAKA, a recovery service, which is best known for its work in Israel. Volunteers gather human remains from the streets after bomb blasts there.

"We'll be collecting whatever we can," Miller said.

Miller said two chartered planes were expected to transport the remains at 3 a.m. this morning. There is a chance the bodies will be sent immediately from Miami to New Jersey this morning, or they might be sent to one of three local funeral homes to await instructionsbefore they are transported to New Jersey, he said.

"The speed of the burial is a priority from a Jewish perspective," said Rabbi Avi Shafran, a spokesman of the Orthodox organization Agudath Israel of America in New York. "When a person dies, it's imperative for him to be returned to the soil from where God created the first human beings."

In addition, Jewish law dictates the body never be left alone until burial.

Miller has worked with Celebrity in the past as an adviser to kosher food issues, said company spokesman Ian Abrams. "Having him on scene is helpful to us and the families," Abrams said.

There were 64 people on the cruise ship Millennium who live in The Ponds, a senior apartment complex in Monroe Township in New Jersey, who are also members of B'nai B'rith, said Harvey Berk, B'nai B'rith spokesman in Washington, D.C.