This source sheet is not meant to be comprehensive in discussing issues around human composting and Jewish practice. Rather, they are texts that I found interesting through my research, informed my thinking about the issues, and raised questions for consideration. I base this around three main Jewish values that can be brought to bear on the conversation:
HONORING THE DEAD (Kavod Hamet)
A eulogy is an honor for the deceased. Therefore we compel the heirs to pay the wages of the people who recite laments and they eulogize them. If the deceased directed that they not be eulogized, we do not eulogize. If, however, one directed that they not be buried, we do not heed, for burial is a mitzvah, as Deuteronomy 21:22 states: "And you shall certainly bury."
אמר רבי אליעזר בר צדוק כך אמר לי אבא בשעת מיתתי קברני תחילה בבקעה ובסוף לקט עצמי ותנם בגלוסקמא ברארין ואל תלקוט אתה בידך וכן עשיתי לו נכנס יוחנן וליקט ופרס עליהן אפיקרסין נכנסתי וקרעתי עליהן ונתתי עליהם חפירין יבישין כשם שעשה לאביו כך עשיתי לו:
Rabbi Eliezer ben Ẓadoḳ said: When my father was dying he gave me this instruction, ‘On my death bury me first in a valley, and later gather my bones and place them in a cedar coffin, but do not gather them with your hands’. And I did so for him. Rabbi Yohanan entered [the cave] and spread a sheet over [the bones]; then I entered, rent [my garments] and spread dry clods of earth [over the bones]. As [my father] did for his father so I did for him.
When one is transporting the bones of a corpse from one place to another, one should not put them in a leather sack, place them on a donkey and ride upon them, because this is treating them contemptuously. If one was afraid of thieves or robbers, this is permitted.
Kavod Hamet is an overarching value that encompasses several traditional practices: avoiding autopsy, ritual preparation of a body, timely burial, behavior in a cemetery, restrictions on exhumation. These first two texts talk of the affirmative practice of burial, and also speak of honoring the dying person's wishes. The second text speaks of an ancient burial practice that is different than ours, and also injects kavanah into the performance of death rites. How might we think about kavod hamet in the context of human composting?
נַעֲנָה רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר וְאָמַר: וּמָה מִילָה שֶׁהִיא אֶחָד מִמָּאתַיִם וְאַרְבָּעִים וּשְׁמוֹנָה אֵיבָרִים שֶׁבָּאָדָם דּוֹחָה אֶת הַשַּׁבָּת — קַל וָחוֹמֶר לְכׇל גּוּפוֹ שֶׁדּוֹחֶה אֶת הַשַּׁבָּת.
Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya answered and said: Just as the mitzvah of circumcision, which rectifies only one of the 248 limbs of the body, overrides Shabbat, so too, a fortiori, saving one’s whole body, which is entirely involved in mitzvot, overrides Shabbat.
An ancient intersection of values is the requirement to put aside Shabbat observance in order to save a life (pikuach nefesh). In contemporary practice, the value of kavod hamet is put aside in favor of pikuach nefesh in the form of organ donation. Can pikuah nefesh apply to human composting?
DERIVING BENEFIT FORBIDDEN (Issur b'hana'ah)
It is forbidden to benefit from a corpse with the exception of its hair. One may benefit from hair, because it is not the body. Similarly, it is forbidden to benefit from the coffin and the shrouds. There is no prohibition against benefiting from garments prepared to be used as shrouds. Even if one knitted a garment to be used for a corpse, they are not forbidden until they reach the bier which is buried with them. For designation of an article to be used for a corpse does not cause it to be forbidden.
With respect to trees that one plants on a cemetery, — the law is that it is permitted to harvest their fruit, since they are not planted on the graves proper.
It was related that people would take dirt from the grave of Rav as a cure for a one-day fever. A number of people came and told Shmuel about this practice, thinking that perhaps the dirt should be forbidden, as one may not derive benefit from a corpse. Shmuel said to them: They are acting properly, as the dirt in the grave is natural ground, and natural ground does not become forbidden in any situation, as it is written: “And he brought out the ashera from the house of Adonai…and beat it into dust, and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people” (II Kings 23:6). This verse juxtaposes the graves of the common people to objects of idol worship.
How might we define "benefit" vis-a-vis human composting? ("Benefit" itself can be defined in multiple ways.) And when is a human body a human body and when is it earth? How might this inform a Jewish approach to appropriate use or disposition of human compost (i.e., are some uses and locations more appropriate than others?)
DO NOT DESTROY (Bal tashchit)
We teach a person that he should not recklessly destroy property and throw it to oblivion. It is better to give it to the poor than to throw it to maggots and worms. Whoever casts many articles on a deceased person violates the commandment against destroying property.
This is the preeminent Jewish value regarding environmental consciousness and practice, of which we have many examples. This text ties it to burial practice specifically. To what extent should environmental issues be considered when discussing methods of body disposition?
ADDITIONAL SOURCES
(א) עֲקַבְיָא בֶן מַהֲלַלְאֵל אוֹמֵר, הִסְתַּכֵּל בִּשְׁלשָׁה דְבָרִים וְאִי אַתָּה בָא לִידֵי עֲבֵרָה. דַּע מֵאַיִן בָּאתָ, וּלְאָן אַתָּה הוֹלֵךְ, וְלִפְנֵי מִי אַתָּה עָתִיד לִתֵּן דִּין וְחֶשְׁבּוֹן. מֵאַיִן בָּאתָ, מִטִּפָּה סְרוּחָה, וּלְאָן אַתָּה הוֹלֵךְ, לִמְקוֹם עָפָר רִמָּה וְתוֹלֵעָה. וְלִפְנֵי מִי אַתָּה עָתִיד לִתֵּן דִּין וְחֶשְׁבּוֹן, לִפְנֵי מֶלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא:
(1) Akavia ben Mahalalel says: Keep your eye on three things, and you will not come to sin: Know from where you came, and to where you are going, and before Whom you are destined to give an account and a reckoning. From where did you come? From a putrid drop. And to where are you going? To a place of dust, worms, and maggots. And before Whom are you destined to give an account and a reckoning? Before the Sovereign of all Sovereigns, the Holy Blessed One.
You sustain the living with loving kindness,
You revive the dead to life with great mercy,
You support the fallen and You heal the sick;
You free the captives and preserve Your faith with those asleep in the dust.
Who is like You, Master of mighty deeds?
Who can be compared to You,
O Ruler Who causes death and restores life,
and causes Your salvation to sprout.
The teaching from Pirke Avot says that our future is healthy, living compost. And this classic text from our liturgy uses the language of growing plants to describe messianic resurrection.