We admit, cremation is not the most appetizing of subjects, even if brought up only to emphasize that it violates the Jewish way of burial still, there are surely more uplifting topics in the Torah, no? Would reincarnation qualify? Yet, what if the cremated remains in question are 5,000 years ago? Would their descendants have a claim on them if these descendants were their reincarnation?
We understand that you might not be spending your waking hours pondering such questions, but not to worry. Somebody is.
First, let us state up front that this matter, recently reported on a Denver Post wire service, is actually under active consideration.
Second, let us clear away the matter of reincarnation. While it does have a certain standing in Jewish mystical tradition, it is hardly a staple of Jewish belief. Not exactly one of the Ten Commandments, to be precise. Not the first thing that would come to mind when the request is for an uplifting topic in the Torah.
Well, it wouldnt come to our mind. However, someone is thinking along these lines. The Battle Chieftan of the Council of British Druid Orders, to be exact. In case you never heard of the honorable factotum, he regards himself as a reincarnation of King Arthur. Alas, the High Court in London paid him short shrift. Arthur Uther Pendragon (otherwise, King Arthur, the Battle Chieftan) told the court he is a descendant of the Celtic priestly order of the Druids, and, on that basis, he filed for legal protection against the scientific examination of human remains at Britains World Heritage site of Stonehenge. These remains, about 5,000 years old, should be reburied, says King Arthur . . . er, we mean, says Arthur Uther Pendragon. He lost.
But think of the possibilities. It used to be thought that one might be the reincarnation of, well, somebody specific; but, based on the insight of the Battle Chieftain of the Council of etc., etc., one might be the reincarnation of the reincarnation of . . . just about anybody who ever lived. If those 40 cremated remains of 5,000 years ago qualify as the ancestors of King Arthur, who is reincarnated in Mr. Pendragon, why may we not say that Mr. Pendragon is also the reincarnation of whomever came between the original Druids and King Arthur, or of whomever came between King Arthur and Mr. Pendragon? (Youre following, we hope.) A precious few identitifications along the way of history, and it may turn out that what was once considered to be a singular human being may turn out to be, via multiple reincarnations, the amalgamation of a whole tribe; or, for all we know, an amalgamation of half the human race.
Somehow, our own little self, delimited by our individual genetic markers and circumscribed by our small place in time, space and history, seems so much more attractive. Like the High Court in London, we prefer to leave the Battle Chieftan to his imagination (although he does have a point about letting the dead, however long dead they may be, rest in peace).
Copyright © 2011 by the Intermountain Jewish News
