What type of decision you make depends on your situation.
If you are young and healthy, it may be inappropriate to buy a grave. After all, at 120, you might be living in a different city, or even a different country.
But you should have—and communicate—some guidance about what you want, in case of emergency.
Does your family own a plot? If so, is it somewhere you would actually want to be buried? There are many considerations, practical and halachic, regarding cemeteries. If your family does have karka, it is worth looking at these issues now.
Does your shul have a section in a local cemetery? Find out a few details about it, such as price and location, so there is less new information to sort through in a moment of crisis.
Do you long for Eretz Yisrael? Whether or not you have other options, have you always wanted to find your eternal resting place in Eretz Yisrael? If so, you may want to consider price and location to see if this decision is realistic. If Eretz Yisrael is what you want, you need to make that clear to those around you.
If you are older or in poor health, it is time to take action. You do not want to burden those you will leave behind. Making decisions now will ensure you have what you want.
Have a conversation about burial options with whoever will be making the decisions on your behalf.
I Am Interested In Being Buried In Eretz Yisrael
Whether because of the Land’s inherent holiness, which provides atonement; the swiftness with which those buried in Eretz Yisrael will experience techias hameisim; or the demonstration that regardless of where an individual lives, their ultimate home is in the Land that Hashem promised our forefathers; Jews throughout history made great sacrifices to be buried in Eretz Yisrael.
from Burial in the Land of Israel, a publication of the Eretz Hachaim Kollel
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Listen
Purchasing a burial plot during one’s lifetime
Rabbi Schachter is the rabbi and rosh beit midrash at the Young Israel of Woodmere.The advantages of burial in Eretz Yisrael, and the factors to weigh when considering it
Rav Sharfman was the mashgiach ruchani at Yeshiva Toras Chaim Toras Emes of Miami.
- Whether a person who lived in chutz la’aretz is permitted to be buried in Eretz Yisrael
- Whether a person who lived in chutz la’aretz should be buried in Eretz Yisrael
- Whether reinterment is is permitted for the sake of burial in Eretz Yisrael
Read
Published by the Eretz Hachaim Kollel
The importance of being buried in Eretz Yisrael
Published by Chevrah Lomdei Mishnah
How those buried outside Eretz Yisrael will return for techias hameisim
Torah Sources
The value of being buried in Eretz Yisrael
The manner in which those buried outside Eretz Yisroel will travel to Eretz Yisrael for techias hameisim
Rav Zalman Sorotzkin, זצ׳׳ל
Learning from Yaakov Avinu that kevurah in Eretz Yisrael is a kapparah for the niftar
Take Action to Secure a Place in Eretz Yisrael
