As many of you know, I have been involved with Jewish funerals for many years, both helping families of Adas Israel members arrange their funerals, and as a member of, and for the past seven years, president of the Jewish Funeral Practices Committee of Greater Washington, Inc. The Committee has been around for more than 40 years, working out arrangements with local funeral homes (currently, one in Silver Spring MD and one in Alexandria VA) to provide traditional Jewish funerals at very affordable rates, well below the costs of standard funerals.

One of the elements of Jewish funeral tradition (and of Muslim funeral tradition) is for burial to be as soon as possible after death, usually within 24-48 hours; there are reasons for this, including reasons relating to concern for the survivors, as long waits for burials can bring additional psychological stress. Another belief is that all are equal in death. So, for example, traditional Jewish practice would have everyone, from the very rich to the destitute, buried in a plain, unadorned, wooden casket.

In other words, many features of Jewish practice are the opposite of what took place regarding the funeral of Jimmy Carter. This is not peculiar to Carter. It has been (and will undoubtedly continue to be) the case with other American presidents, as well.

Carter died under hospice care in Plains, GA. His body was transported to Atlanta, where it sat in state at the Georgia state capitol building and there was a ceremony, and then it was flown to DC where it was placed for a few days in the Capitol rotunda, where the public could pay their respects, and then it was driven to the National Cathedral in Northwest Washington, where there was a lavish funeral ceremony, and then driven from the cathedral to Joint Base Andrews in Prince George’s County, where it was loaded onto a plane to Fort Moore, Georgia, where it was placed in a hearse and driven to the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, where there a final funeral ceremony and burial. Whew!

This is the norm for burials of presidents. I know there were similar ceremonies held for Gerald Ford, who died in California, lay in state at the Capitol, had a funeral at the National Cathedral, and then had another ceremony in Grand Rapids, Michigan where he was buried. George H.W. Bush died in Houston, was brought to Washington, lay in state at the Capitol, had a funeral at the National Cathedral, was flown to Houston for another funeral service and then taken to College Station TX for a final service and burial. And so forth.

Is all of this movement of the body of a deceased president really necessary? My own suggestion would be to have a burial service soon after the death of the president, and then have memorial services at appropriate locations afterward. There is no real reason why the coffin and body need to be at the Cathedral or church services, why the body needs to be transported around and about, or even why an empty casket can’t be set up in the Capitol rotunda for people to pay their respects.

A third tenet of Jewish practices prior to burial are designed to pay respect to the body of the deceased (including body washing and watching); unnecessary transporting just does not seem either respectful or necessary to me. I know – you may have a very different opinion, but the differences from at least the  Jewish norm may be instructive.

Having said all of this, I did turn on my television yesterday to watch some of the proceedings. I saw the casket being loaded into the hearse at the Capitol, and I followed the hearse both as it was driven to the Cathedral and the, after the funeral, as it was driven from the Cathedral to Joint Base Andrews. They had a pace car leading the procession in front of the hearse, with a rear mounted camera, and you could follow the complete route of the hearse. I do like road trips, as you may know, and a road trip where I could just sit at my desk and watch the city roll by was a pleasure, as I knew every place on the way.

As to the funeral itself, I was watching it off and on. I tended to turn off the sound when there was preaching or when a soloist or the large choir was singing, and turn on the sound when there was a speaker I wanted to hear. That means that I heard Stu Eizenstat, Jason Carter and Andrew Young and others. I thought that all three spoke eloquently – Eizenstat giving a full and laudatory report on President Carter’s public service years, Jason talking about his grandfather the family man, and Young talking about Carter and civil rights. I also listened to President Biden, but did not think his words were particularly memorable (or maybe I am just tired of listening to President Biden now). I also enjoyed watching the former presidents, vice presidents and their spouses interacting as they sat the first two rows – Presidents Obama and Trump sitting next to each other and conversing proved to me that Obama could talk to anyone. Trump did not really speak to anyone else. Melania sat on the end of a row and looked all alone, as if she were out of place.

All in all, I think the services were very well done. It’s just that there was no thought given to quick burial, equality in death, and respect for the body.

I don’t expect things to change. I don’t think the majority of Americans would agree at all with my feelings. But I thought I should at least put my thoughts out for consideration.