Living Higher: Issue 945

Last week Rabbi Berkowitz got a text : A guy had a fatal heart attack while swimming off the beach in Turks and Caicos. Government doesn’t want to release the body without an autopsy. Could take weeks. Could he help?

Rabbi Berkowitz remembered hearing that a vacationer had suffered a fatal heart attack in a resort that morning, and realized the victim was a Jew. He enlisted a cadre of contacts from around the globe who all went into overdrive, intent on overcoming seemingly insurmountable hurdles to ensure that a meis mitzvah would be accorded the proper kavod acharon.

According to local law, any death that occurs in a public setting requires an autopsy to determine the cause of death. Rabbi Berkowitz immediately contacted the health minister’s office, who advised that they would need documentation from the United States on the decedent’s prior medical history to waive the autopsy requirement. The paperwork arrived, allowing the police to release the body, and meanwhile David Kushner of Amudim and Rabbi Shlomo Soroka of the Illinois Agudah started working the diplomatic channels of the US government to clear the body for entry into the United States for proper kevurah.

The bureaucratic hurdles finally cleared Thursday evening, but there was another problem: The Turks and Caicos airport closes at seven p.m. Flying out on Friday though, meant possible chillul Shabbos. Rabbi Berkowitz contacted the manager of the private terminal at the airport — a Jewish woman — who agreed to stay at her post until close to midnight and keep the terminal open. With the airport now open, all that was needed was an aircraft that would make the trip to and from the island, and Hatzolah Air flew in to pick up the body — gratis.