The Beginnings of a Holy Burial Society - Chevra Kadisha

Sinai Memorial Chapel of San Francisco, Chevra Kadisha, is a very unique institution. The founding fathers were steeped in learning and appreciated their Judaism very much. The significant Mitzvah of Chevra Kadisha is the burial of a Jew according to tradition.

Judaism preaches respect for human personality as a duty, because man has in his power to become a living embodiment of the Moral Law. The Rabbis tell, "The nations wondered why the Children of Israel in their wandering through the desert, carried with them the bones of Joseph in a similar ark and in the same reverential manner as they did the Tables of the Covenant" "He whose remains are preserved in one ark," they answered, "loyally obeyed the Divine Commands enshrined in another." Genesis I; 26, "Yayomes Yosef ben moab voeser shonim vayachantoo owsow vay isem boorown hemitzroim."

Chevra Kadisha celebrates Zion Adar, the birthday and death of Moses because, according to the Torah, "The Lord buried Moses," and, "Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho, and the Lord showed him all the land, even Gilead as far as Dan; and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah as far as the hinder sea; and the South, and the Plain, even the Valley Jericho, and the city of palm trees as far as Zoar." (Deut. XXXIV, 1 to 3). And the Lord said unto Moses, "This is the land which I swore unto Jacob, saying I will give it unto they seed; I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither." "So Moses the servant of the Lord died in the Land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord." - "and he was buried in the valley of the land of Moab against Bethpeor, and no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." (Deut. XXIV, 4-6).