Cadavers On Display

I'm in Cincinnnati visiting my wife's family. On Shabbos, the rabbi at the shul spoke about an exhibition of dead bodies in town. According to the museum website:

This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to come face-to-face with full human bodies and partial body specimens in a way never seen before. It’s the ultimate anatomy lesson, featuring real human bodies. These meticulously dissected bodies are preserved through an innovative process and respectfully presented, giving visitors the opportunity to view the beauty and complexity of their own organs and systems. “For centuries, the medical community has learned about the inner workings of anatomy through the study of real human bodies, and now it’s possible for the public to gain an intimate knowledge as well,” said Dr. Roy Glover, professor emeritus of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Michigan and chief medical director for BODIES. “The exhibition will change the way people of Cincinnati see themselves. It will enlighten, empower, fascinate, and inspire.”

The Archbishop of Cincinnati has already come out against the exhibit, while at the same time seeming to waffle:

Parents, the archbishop said, should be the ones who take their children to see
“Bodies...The Exhibition” if, acting “as the primary educators of their
children,” they believe the exhibit has educational value.

The rabbi, who was interviewed by a Cincinnati magazine, went through the Halachic issues in his drasha:

1. Mais Mitzvah (The Mitvah of Taking Care of a Dead Body)--There is a Halachic imperative to see to it that a dead body that is unclaimed receives a proper burial. Apparently not all of the bodies in the exhibit are there because the bodies were 'donated' to the project. Some are unidentified and some come from China--known for its history of human rights abuses. Halachically, these unknown and unidentified bodies require burial, not exhibition.

2. Pikuach Nefesh (Saving a Life)--Halacha gives the highest priority to the saving of a human life, and one of the arguments in favor of this exhibit is to increase knowledge and awareness of the human body--according to the exhibit:

In addition to providing an up-close look inside our skeletal, muscular, respiratory and circulatory systems, visitors will walk away with a better understanding of what makes us tick and the importance of healthy lifestyles and taking care of the only body you’ll ever have. The basic premise of the exhibition is simple: If people better understand their bodies, they’ll better understand how to care for them. And in a society filled with an overweight, overmedicated, and sleep-starved majority, it seems the best medicine could be a healthy dose of body education.

This may appear to approach a level of Pikuach Nefesh--except that Pikuach Nefesh requires a concrete and immediate effect: for example donating an organ for immediate use would be an example of Pikuach Nefesh--whereas filling out a donor card to give one's organs should there be an accident is another story. In the case of the exhibit, Pikuach Nefesh does not apply.

3. Kavod HaMais (Respect for the Dead): The Seattle Post Intelligencer describes one of the bodies this way:

Not only is he positioned beneath a pool of light without cover of clothing, he
is missing his skin and hair -- a man stripped to nothing but muscle and bone
and sinew, a man whose stomach, liver and intestines perch like books on a shelf
for all to see. Not only is he positioned beneath a pool of light without cover
of clothing, he is missing his skin and hair -- a man stripped to nothing but
muscle and bone and sinew, a man whose stomach, liver and intestines perch like
books on a shelf for all to see.

This is not the proper way to deal with a human body.

4. Tzelem Elokim (The Image of G_d): Regardless of whether the bodies in question are Jewish or not, the fact remains that the Tzelem Elokim--the "Image of G_d" resides in all men and women and this exhibition amounts to the greatest lack of respect for this fact.

The Seattle article points out that the company behind the exhibit--Premier--is a for-profit company.

That may be all this boils down to.

Technorati Tag: Judaism.