Time To Speak of “The Gorilla In The Room”



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    Shifra Vepua

    Time To Speak of “The Gorilla In The Room”

    There are many people and events that made the city of Cincinnati famous and well-known. While most of those were positive events, there are some which are unfortunate… Rabbi Gerson Avtzon writes in The American Israelite • Full Article

    By Rabbi Gerson Avtzon/The American Israelite

    There are many people and events that made the city of Cincinnati famous and well-known. While most of those were positive events, there are some which are unfortunate. One of the events happened on May 28, 2016 at the world-famous Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical gardens. On that day, a three-year-old boy climbed into a gorilla enclosure, a place that I have been with my kids dozens of times, and was grabbed and dragged by a Gorilla named Harambe.

    Over the next ten minutes, Harambe became increasingly “agitated and disoriented” by the screams of onlookers. He carried the child through the water, occasionally propping him up when he sat, or pushing him down when he stood. Harambe exhibited “strutting” behavior—walking around with legs and arms stiffly extended to appear bigger—a bluffing move, though one with inherent danger should he throw or drag the boy around too roughly. Harambe then carried the boy up a ladder out of the moat onto dry land. Afraid for the boy’s welfare, zoo officials made the decision to kill the gorilla, doing so with a single rifle shot. Cincinnati firefighters said the boy was between Harambe’s legs when the shot was fired.

    There is another Gorilla which made Cincinnati famous: Gorilla Glue. This super-glue, distributed internationally, is headquartered here in Cincinnati. Super glue has an interesting history, as it was invented by mistake! Dr. Harry Coover, in 1942, was attempting to make clear plastic gun sights to be put on guns used by Allied soldiers in WWII. One particular formulation he came up with didn’t work well for gun sights, but worked fantastically as an extremely quick bonding adhesive.

    Nine years later (1951), now working at Eastman Kodak, Dr. Coover was the supervisor of a project looking at developing a heat resistant acrylate polymer for jet canopies. Fred Joyner was working on that project and at one point used the rediscovered Super Glue and tested it by spreading ethyl cyanoacrylate between a pair of refractometer prisms. To his surprise, the prisms became stuck very solidly together.

    We are all familiar with the saying “The eight hundred pound Gorilla (or elephant) in the room.” It is to address an important or enormous topic, question, or controversial issue that is obvious or that everyone knows about but no one mentions or wants to discuss because it makes at least some of them uncomfortable and is personally, socially, or politically embarrassing, or controversial. While there are many issues, which we like to avoid speaking about, there is one that I feel should be addressed in the open: Cremation.

    Let us begin with the Bible: The first human body was taken from the ground (Genesis 2:7) “the L-rd G‑d formed man of dust from the ground” — and must therefore return to the earth. This is expressed in the words that G‑d tells Adam (Ibid 3:19) “For dust you are, and to dust you will return.”

    This concept is reiterated in Deuteronomy (21:23), where we are commanded to bury the dead: “You shall bury him on that day.” The Jerusalem Talmud explains that this requires us to bury the body in its entirety, not after it has been diminished through cremation or in any other manner. Cremating a body destroys most of the body, making burial of the flesh impossible, and thus violates the biblical command.

    In Jewish law, the human body belongs to its Creator. It is merely on loan to the person, who is the guardian of the body, but he or she has no right to deface it in any way. The body must be “returned” in its entirety, just as it was given. Additionally, Man was created in “G‑d’s image and likeness.” Any violation of the human body is considered, therefore, to be a violation of G‑d Himself.

    A body that is willfully cremated, as opposed to those cremated by our persecutors like the Nazis (may their names be erased), risks forfeiting their share in the ultimate resurrection of the dead — which is one of the thirteen principles of Jewish faith enumerated by Maimonoidies.

    Understanding the great importance of this mitzvah, the Israeli army is known to take great risks, venturing behind enemy lines to bring back to Israel the bodies of their fallen comrades.

    While many people do not want to burden their loved ones, or feel that they can’t afford a proper Jewish burial, there must be a grassroots effort to educate people on the importance of this matter. There are even Jewish organizations that help pay for proper Jewish burials. It is vital that we all — regardless of level of observance or background — speak to our families and loved ones and encourage them to follow the Jewish tradition that has been held so sacred for so many years.

    May we only share in Simchas!

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    Time To Speak of “The Gorilla In The Room”



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