If you don't know about Bodies you can read about it here.

So what are all the issues that we could say might surround going or Jews considering going to this thing?

You mean like kohanim?

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DD went with her class (medical & dental assisting) and she found it interesting from a medical standpoint, but didn't think the average Yossi would benefit from it.

Did anyone else see a double entendre in the title, or am I turning into Pure Myrrh?

I saw that immediately, so yes, you are turning into me....

WWW anyone?

Rabbi Bleich gave a talk on this one Shabbat a couple of years ago. Being the exhibitor of the bodies is a much bigger problem than merely attending as a spectator. There is a whole issue about deriving benefit from corpses. However, being a spectator ordinarily does not constitute deriving benefit.

Well anyone going.

My Rav's main question seemed to be tznius issues.

My Father's concern was if there was proper respect for the dead issues.

does it make a difference if a person asked to be a part of the exhibition?

and for the record i saw it and thought it was very interesting.

I would guess a kohen has a problem if the dead are jews.
I don't know about tznius as I would assume its like any medical doctor doing autopsies.
By going to the exhibit how would you not be respecting the dead? Its not like you're cutting them up.

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No, it's not. First of all, lay persons voyeuristically gawking at mutilated dead bodies are comparable to physicians performing autopsies for a medical to'elet not at all. The comparison is not apt. The carnival of the dead that is called the Bodies the Exhibition is as far from medically necessary autopsies as east is from west.


Injunctions to respect dead bodies extend far beyond merely not personally cutting them up.

I'm referring to autopsies in medical school.

How are you disrespecting the dead by merely being another person at the exhibit?

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Even worse. Those aren't autopsies, by the way. Those are full body dissections and are anachronistic throwbacks to a time when there was actual to'elet. Now they are done...just because they are done. It's almost tradition.
In any event, even if you think full body dissections in health care schools are necessary for educational reasons [an argument I personally reject, but I understand the counter arguments and understand why many people think they are necessary], there is no, or at least limited, didactic benefit to laypersons gawking voyeuristically at this carnival of dead bodies. This exhibit is entertainment, nothing more, with carnival hucksters even selling tickets for admission.


Because you are paying admission and facilitating the exhibition and it's arguably a chillul hashem when someone sees you with a kippah and draws the conclusion that it's fine because even orthodox jews go even though disrespecting dead bodies is against Jewish values. If nobody went, they wouldn't be continuing with this commercial project and every person who goes gives the evil exhibitors chizuk.

So you think its a tznius issue?


So respect is all about how others see you?
Not respecting nonjewish bodies is against jewish values?

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I said that?



I said anything of the sort?


Yes. The halachot are somewhat different [for example, the chiyuv for a complete and speedy burial of nonJewish bodies] but yes, disrespecting nonJewish bodies is against Jewish values. They are still human beings.
In any event, you don't know that the bodies are all nonJewish. If you did, there wouldn't be a kohanim issue...possibly.

Two previous discussions that touch on these topics:

Cadavers
http://www.hashkafah.com/index.php?s=&...st&p=733098

Question for all Dr. Cohens
http://www.hashkafah.com/index.php?s=&...st&p=324743

Read those threads, doodlehead, because I'm just repeating myself.

That was my mashal to explain why I didnt think it was.

Have you ever read R' Aryeh kaplan on what kavod hameis is all about?
Yeah.

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Even if we could rule out that none of the bodies on exhibit
belonged to Jews, I question whether anyone who donated their bodies anticipated the
use to which they are currently being put. For example, there is the person whose body is now on
exhibit as a soccer player. I have never been to the exhibit, and wouldn't go even if it
were free. I think this form of infotainment is degrading to both the viewers and the viewed.
Even if the exhibit was not of actual bodies but life-size plastic models, I would find it
troubling.

I would agree with melech that there's an issue of chilul Hashem, not to mention kavod hamais...

I personally find this exhibition to be in very bad taste. *

*and coming from someone who lived in a country where you can buy used underwear from vending machines, and who has repeatedly broken her own record for the most "irreverent" h.com post ever (per K-Reb's opinion), this is saying quite a bit

Why???

I went, two years ago, and found it to be one of the most interesting things I've ever seen. I disagree that it is a carnival of the dead. And I disagree that it is in bad taste -- though I used to think so prior to going. I don't fully know what to think of it, but I am very glad I got a chance to see it.

As someone in the medical field, I didn't find the exhibit in bad taste at all. In fact it helps illuminate how amazing the human body is internally.

However, the controversy is over the harvesting of the bodies, some of whom may not have been willing to be in this exhibit, which obviously is wrong (if true) on the organizers part.