AP: Israelis struggle to cope with burying above one another

Jarkon Cemetery near Tel Aviv; photo from dailymail.co.uk

Jerusalem - From Japan to Brazil, high-rise buildings are being constructed to serve as cemeteries where land is scarce. Israel is a leading country in this regard, although it initially hesitated and had to wait to see whether rabbinical authorities would approve this method of burying the dead. Eventually, Israeli ultra-Orthodox funeral services approved this concept as the most efficient solution in densely populated areas where conventional cemeteries have no room for new graves.
    "It doesn't make much sense that we are willing to live in high-rise buildings stacked one on top of the other, but we should die in villas. If we agree to live above each other, we can also die that way," argues Israeli architect Tuvia Sagiv.
    His main project is the Jarkon Cemetery on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. The original burial site, with a capacity of 110,000 graves, spans an area of 0.6 square kilometers. Sagiv designed 30 vertical structures that will be able to accommodate an additional 250,000 deceased without taking up any more ground space.
    "People will have to get used to it, but it is a meaningful solution," said Sagiv on the roof of the new 22-meter-high burial site. The interior currently resembles a construction site, according to the AP agency. It features circular ramps framed externally by terraced vegetation. Side entrances provide fresh air to each floor.
    Similar solutions are being adopted by other overcrowded cities where religious customs do not support cremation. The tallest cemetery to date, with 32 floors, exists in Santos, Brazil. In Tokyo's six-story Buddhist temple Kuandji, visitors have a card to transport the remains of their loved ones from the crypt. Other versions of multi-story cemeteries exist in New Orleans as well as in Europe, Egypt, China, and Hong Kong. Plans have been developed for Paris and Mumbai. A project for Mexico City combines above-ground and underground storage of remains, extending to a depth of 250 meters. China is trying to increase interest in "multi-story" burials by offering subsidies for this method of interment.
    However, only in Israel is this a government project. Aside from those who purchased their graves in advance, families no longer have the option of obtaining a regular grave. About 35,000 people die each year in the country, and one of the options offered is to inter the dead above one another and separate them with a concrete slab, with a shared tombstone. This is acceptable within families. Another option is to inter the remains in niches dug into the wall and closed off with a tombstone. However, the most revolutionary approach is to bury the dead in a high-rise cemetery, where each floor resembles a conventional cemetery with the difference of no blue sky above.
    To achieve such a revolution, approval from rabbis was necessary. The Jewish burial ritual is based on a passage in the Book of Genesis, where God expelled Adam and Eve from paradise. "For dust you are and to dust you shall return," it states. According to Jewish custom, the body must be placed individually into a layer of earth after death.
    To meet this requirement in the new structures, the columns of the multi-story cemeteries are filled with soil, connecting each floor to the ground. For many, this new method of burial resembles the ancient practice of placing the deceased in caves and catacombs.
    Advocates consider multi-story cemeteries to be ecological and sustainable over the long term. However, there are many opponents, some of whom are particularly vehement. A case is cited of a family that threatened a funeral service member that if they placed their relative in a niche in the wall, they would end up there too.
    Former Finance Ministry official Shmuel Slavin was tasked with compiling a report on the funeral crisis and stated that there is no reason for emotions. He claims there is still plenty of space for the dead, especially in the vast Negev Desert in southern Israel. However, he also sees positive solutions in high-rise buildings, as the new cemeteries will be expensive both to build and maintain. The problem is that people do not want to hear about these new methods.
    "It is a matter of tradition; people want to be buried like their parents," says Slavin.