3

Can someone lead me to some true/verified stories of tzadikim who were unearthed from their place of burial and were found to be completely intact?

Mark A.
  • 5,081
  • 12
  • 33
  • 3
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorruptibility – הנער הזה Jan 17 '17 at 02:57
  • are you referring to the story of the Gra when they moved his body – sam Jan 17 '17 at 03:09
  • @sam. I'm asking for any (true/sourced/verified) story. I don't care if it's the Gra, the Ba'Ba'al Shem Tov, or the gabai sheini from the small shul in Cracow – Mark A. Jan 17 '17 at 04:47
  • 1
    What have you found in your search so far? What information do you already have on this phenomenon? http://judaism.stackexchange.com/help/how-to-ask – WAF Feb 23 '17 at 00:45
  • See this article that discusses the topic; https://thementch.com/dead-bodies-that-remain-intact-is-that-a-sign-of-greatness/ – Manny Aug 25 '20 at 14:46

2 Answers2

3

Rebbe Yochonon Perlow of Karlin Stolin. There are people alive today (who attend the synagogue on 16th ave and 46th st in Brooklyn NY), that were part of the team who exhumed his body from swampland in New Jersey after being interred for about two years. During the rites and transport of the body from the USA to Israel, the witnesses claim that they saw the body was whole. The coffin was removed whole and in good condition. After the Rebbe was removed from it, and the coffin was left overnight, it mysteriously aged and rotted.

That's the story. :)

David Kenner
  • 10,768
  • 19
  • 33
  • Can you name any of those individuals who were a part of that team? – Chaim Jan 17 '17 at 19:22
  • 1
    @Chaim Yes I can, but I do not have permission to publicly broadcast names on the internet. However, I do know that if someone comes to shul, and respectfully asks, people will show you who they are. – David Kenner Jan 17 '17 at 22:28
  • @Chaim Rabbi Shmuel Dishon is one of them. I heard this from him first-hand. – ElonMusk Nov 17 '23 at 05:11
3

I heard second hand in the name of Rabbi Yosef Blau, Mashgiach Ruchani of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, who heard it from his father in law Rav Pinchos Teitz who was part of the Chevra Kadisha that was tasked with exhuming the Vilna Gaon in order to transfer him from the first Jewish cemetery in Shnipishok to the third Jewish cemetery in Saltonishkiu, that the Gr"a's body had not decayed at all.

Although in an email correspondence with Professor Shneuer Leiman he quickly disproved this story.

You heard” that Rav Teitz was present at the re-burial of the Gaon. This is untrue, since the Gaon was moved (sometime after1948 but prior to 1952) during Stalin’s last years. Stalin died in 1953. Rav Teitz made no trips to Russia during and after the Holocaust , while Stalin still lived. See Rivkah Blau, Learn Torah, Love Torah, Live Torah, p. 243.

Rather the professor wrote that the testimony those who were present testified that the Gra"s skeleton was intact, not his body. All the others moved were in the form of scattered bones.

There are reports that the Alter of Novhardok after a year was exhumed, and his body had not decayed at all. enter image description here enter image description here enter image description here enter image description here

Shoel U'Meishiv
  • 15,505
  • 1
  • 37
  • 80
  • See here: http://ou.org.s3.amazonaws.com/publications/ja/5759winter/leiman.htm – ezra Jan 18 '17 at 23:07
  • @ShoelU'Meishiv - Bevakasha achi – ezra Jan 18 '17 at 23:30
  • @Chaim - Then we could really whether or not the famous portrait of him is his image or not: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/36/Vilna_Gaon,_Winograd_picture.jpg/220px-Vilna_Gaon,_Winograd_picture.jpg – ezra Jan 18 '17 at 23:34
  • @EzraHoerster isn't their a post on onthemainline already on it already? – Shoel U'Meishiv Jan 18 '17 at 23:36
  • @ShoelU'Meishiv - Maybe so. I'll check onthemainline. I love that blog, BTW. – ezra Jan 18 '17 at 23:49
  • @ezra http://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/53839/8775. – mevaqesh Feb 22 '17 at 22:31
  • 2
    @ShoelU'Meishiv I just called Rabbi Yosef Blau about half an hour ago to ask him about this report in his name and he said (not verbatim) "there is a story like this- I don't know all the details; my brother-in-law would know better. But it is true [that something happened; however] my father in law was private about these things and wouldn't provide many details." FYI – Yehuda Feb 03 '23 at 18:36