X-Message-Number: 7328
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 1996 07:48:33 -0800 (PST)
From: Doug Skrecky <>
Subject: help requested
The following appeared in the December 18, 1996 edition of the Globe &
Mail in Canada. (If anyone knows the phone number of the Beeri's I was
thinking a quick call informing them of the availability of cryonics in
the USA might be in order.):
"(AP)
They had hoped to freeze their dead mother's body until medical
technology could revive her. But yesterday, after 14 days of court
hearings in Jerusalem, Moshe and Rachel Beeri agreed to mummify their
mother - Esther Beeri, who died two weeks ago at the age of 70 -
instead.
The siblings finally agreed to mummification after realizing there
was no way to keep her body on ice in Israel. "They accepted this only
because there really was no other choice," said their lawyer, Nachshon
Fisher. "They wanted this more than anything, for their mother to be
frozen in order to give her a chance to come back to life some day."
Israel's burial society and its health ministry opposed the request to
keep the body at home in a special freezer. But they accepted a new
proposal to preserve the body in a special oil and wrap it in thick nylon
before burial, Mr. Fisher said. He said the case raises the issue of
whether freezing a body violates Jewish law."
What strikes one upon reading the above article is that the Beeri
family seemed to be ignorant of the available alternatives - such as
cryonic storage in the USA, permafrost burial in Canada or even proper
chemical preservation techniques - here a "special" oil does not have
much credibility in this corner. Thawing the body in a fixative solution
(this is called freeze substitution) would be a far superior alternative
to this. If anyone can find the Beeri's phone number please email this to
me. I would be willing to try to contact this family just to make them
aware of the alternatives - if it is not already too late.
Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=7328