Israeli rabbis have been working around the clock, even on the Jewish Sabbath, to identify and count the dead civilians and soldiers gunned down in a Hamas attack last week.
Hundreds of soldiers, women, and children in body bags line shelves of refrigerated trucks, awaiting examination.
“Generally, Jewish law says that you cannot break the Sabbath for a dead person,” said Rabbi Israel Weiss, who is helping lead the operation.
Seeking the final word on their loved ones, families across Israel have flocked to hospitals to give DNA samples in the hope that they can be matched to the bodies at one of several bases around the country receiving the dead.
Her family spent a whole day searching Soroka Medical Center in southern Israel to find her body, only to come up short.
Rabbis have not worked on the Sabbath since 2005, said Weiss, when the rabbinate disinterred graves from a cemetery in an Israeli settlement in Gaza that residents evacuated as part of Israel’s unilateral withdrawal at the time.
Still, the freshly dug graves were visible, illuminated by harsh floodlights to help the military guard nearby keep close watch.
The original article contains 914 words, the summary contains 160 words. Saved 82%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
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Hundreds of soldiers, women, and children in body bags line shelves of refrigerated trucks, awaiting examination.
“Generally, Jewish law says that you cannot break the Sabbath for a dead person,” said Rabbi Israel Weiss, who is helping lead the operation.
Seeking the final word on their loved ones, families across Israel have flocked to hospitals to give DNA samples in the hope that they can be matched to the bodies at one of several bases around the country receiving the dead.
Her family spent a whole day searching Soroka Medical Center in southern Israel to find her body, only to come up short.
Rabbis have not worked on the Sabbath since 2005, said Weiss, when the rabbinate disinterred graves from a cemetery in an Israeli settlement in Gaza that residents evacuated as part of Israel’s unilateral withdrawal at the time.
Still, the freshly dug graves were visible, illuminated by harsh floodlights to help the military guard nearby keep close watch.
The original article contains 914 words, the summary contains 160 words. Saved 82%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!