Can some one explain why Judaism does not allow cremations?

The body may not be altered or mutilated in anyway after it dies. it is taught that the soul remains attached to the body and damage to the body is painful for the soul to see. To prevent the soul from extra suffering, the body is treated respectfully and buried as soon as possible.

It has nothing to do with the future resurrection- all people will be resurrected regardless of the presence of their body or otherwise! (what, you think the righteous dead of the Holocaust wouldn't be resurrected because the Nazis (yemach shemeichem) cremated them?)

we see that this has been the way throughout history- the Talmud has many anecdotes and rules around graveyards and tombs- and nothing about cremation outside of outlawing it. That said, burial customs have changed since the destruction of the Second Temple- initially specially built tombs (or caves converted to tombs) were used- however, the costs associated with these and the effect such high costs had on the surviving family led Rabban Gamliel to outlaw their usage and to institute the modern practices we have today.

edit: It has been stated that autopsies are not allowed. this is not strictly true. where an autopsy is needed in order to determine if what killed the person might kill others, an autopsy is allowed in order to save life (such as in contagious deiseases or to determine if it was some genetic abnormality). Additionally, if the government requires an autopsy for a criminal investigation, it will generally go ahead with the proviso that someone knowledgeable in Jewish law and medical need is present and that only the minimum necessary invasive procedures are carried out on the body and that it is treated respectfully.

In Judaism the body can not be mutulated. That much I know.

I know one thought is that when the moshiach comes & the world to come arrives, one's essenses have to have gone to nature naturally, to arise again. However, I am sure this is a more modern emphazises by the Chabad/Hassidic, & not the original reasons.

I know Abraham & Sara are buried in a tomb, so at that point they weren't cremated. Eastern religions such as Hinduism used cremation. I'm going to guess here, that cremation was often associated with human sacrifice rites, as was mutilation. (Picturing an ancient Canaanite sacrifice altar I took a photo of.) However, this isn't a direct religious reason, more of a gut sense based on living within Judaism. Abraham's switch from human sacrifice at the request of this new God is a crucial moment in Judaism's generation.

Hopefully someone such as Mark S will have a chance to answer with the Talmudic logic.

I know it was very hard for orthodox to authorize transplant donations. Because human life is so valued & saving a life is paramount, they were able to find in the laws a way to support organ donation. It took a while & they worked hard on it.

One of the denegrations of the Shoah was adding tatoos to the Jews. Since that is forbidden. You can not be buried in a Jewish cemetary with a tatoo.

There may be more & more accurate information on here: www.aish.org

Also, if you can keep the question open awhile, for more knowledgable people to stop by?

Chabad (one of the Hassidic) Jewish communities - they are orthodox but add more mysticism. (A another long story.) www.chabad.org. I've got it starred...

Fenris, I welcome and respect your wish to learn more. I can't answer this myself but have starred it for others. I also feel, as a Jew, I should know the answer! So I'm off to consult some of my books and if I find something soon, I'll post it.

EDIT: In UK Reform, cremation is permitted. Rabbi Jonathan Romain, a well-respected Reform rabbi, writes about this in his book "Faith and Practice", and I'm paraphrasing here. He points out that Jewish burial customs have changed through time. Originally, it was burial, as was common at the time. The patriarchs were buried above ground in tombs. Later, it changed to burial in the ground, initially just in shrouds and later in coffiins, to conform to civil law. Cremation was used even biblically, eg the remains of King Saul, and in times of plague. Orthodox authorities forbid cremation, as not being traditional and a gentile custom, and because it is seen as akin to mutilating a corpse, forbidden in Judaism. Also, of course, the notion of resurrection of the dead has been important. Reform Jews consider these notions insufficient as arguments to deny cremation to those who wish it. Old attitudes against it were founded in the notion of cremation as a disgrace, not as a choice by the deceased. The same service is used for cremation as for burial, conducted by a rabbi. Even the main British Orthodox group (United Synagogue) will permit the burial of cremated ashes in an Orthodox cemetery along with a burial service, but Orthodox rabbis will not officiate at the cremation itself.

This is probably true throughout Europe, as the UK mostly is in line with other European Jewish practices. The US may be entirely different, as may Israel.

I believe - and I am not a Jew - that part of it is the resurrection of the body as stated before.

Another part of it that I recall hearing and unfortunately cannot tell you where, is that it was a common pagan ritual and it was another way to keep the Jews separate from the cultures around them.

Another may be the fact that certain gods like Moloch had sacrifices of burning people (even children) alive.

When a person dies, the soul needs to disengage from the body, it's not easy for the soul to leave a body that it has been living in, in fact we believe that the soul comes down to visit the body every now and then for a whole year.

The soul would suffer great shock due to the unnaturally sudden disengagement from the body.

Edit - Another reason for this is that Jews believe there will be a resurrection of the dead after the Messiah arrives.

Cremation destroys even the extremely hard luz bone, the luz bone is the bone that the body will be reconstituted from.

One who has his body cremated will not merit resurrection (unless it was against his will).

Although the Torah did not specifically forbid us to burn bodies it did command to bury them and mutilation of the body is forbidden in fact opening a body after death in order to find the cause of death is forbidden by Jewish law.

Genesis 3:19: "till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.'

Deuteronomy 21:23: "but thou shalt surely bury him the same day"

I believe the reason is that the body is created by G-d, so it is wrong to destroy it.