Terror targets had a unique ministry.
Before short-term missions became all the rage in evangelical global outreach, the standard was career missions, where cross-cultural workers would spend decades learning the language and culture of a people in order to share the gospel. In the 19th century many missionaries to Africa, for example, came with their own coffins, never expecting to leave.
Lucette Lagnado's article in the Wall Street Journal on Judaism's Chabad Movement brought to mind some similarities:
Tragically, the burial plots will be used in Mumbai sooner than expected. The Muslim militants who murdered 171 people also attacked the Chabad House in India's financial capital. Among the dead were Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his pregnant wife, Rivka.Perhaps the most telling story I've heard about Chabad emissaries is that some will buy burial plots once they arrive at their distant outposts: It is a gesture to the community -- and perhaps also to themselves -- that they have come to stay.
Lagnado opens a window to a fascinating and important development in today's Judaism.
Posted by Stan Guthrie on December 4, 2008 11:42AM
Comments
For those who opt for cremation like me, there is another option (not much about such missionary cases, but in general). Have a simple burial and then cremation a year later, somewhat akin to Jewish re-burial of bones. For us living in such mobile society, keeping a tomb for a deceased family member usually fails to serve its purposefulness.
As for me, I rather wait for availability of Swedish free-dry process of ecological burial in the States. Check it out http://www.promessa.se/index_en.asp. Though cremation is a commonly accepted practice, esp. by Buddhists, I feel this technology (since 2001) would be much more psychologically comfortable, being 'less fiery'.
Note: In my native Korea, they have now placed a limit on how long to keep burial in a tomb. (I believe, 30 years). After that, the casket with remains is to be taken out for cremation by the family or by a local government if there is no claim on it.
Posted by: Ounbbl at December 8, 2008
May the Holzberg's memory be a blessing for the entire world.
Posted by: Christian Jewelry at December 9, 2008
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