An Israeli operation aided by Interpol recently allowed authorities to identify the body of a converted Jew living in the country, contact his family and bring him to burial.
Neighbors of the elderly man who hadn't left his home for a long while alerted emergency services, who discovered his body in an advanced state of decomposition making it unidentifiable.
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The deceased man being brought for burial
(Photo: Israel National Assistance Organization)
The body was transferred to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute for examination and identification, but the police had no information about any of the man’s relatives, preventing them from confirming his identity.
A few weeks later, the deceased's friends contacted the National Assistance Organization to find out where their friend was buried, intending to visit his grave for the traditional 30-day memorial. After inquiries by unit volunteers with the Chevra Kadisha (Jewish burial society) and the forensic institute, they discovered the man hadn’t been buried since he was listed as unidentified due to a lack of family records in Israel.
National Assistance Organization Director Elhanan Roth located a relative of the dead man living in the U.S., but it was later discovered that she was his stepsister. The woman mentioned that, to her knowledge, there were no identifying medical marks such as scars or tattoos on the man. Despite her willingness to help, she couldn't provide a DNA sample for identification.
After considerable effort, Roth managed to track down the deceased’s biological brother, who lives in Cali, Colombia. With the assistance of a Chabad emissary and the rabbi of the Jewish community in Bogota, a conference call was arranged with the brother which was translated by a Spanish-speaking volunteer. During the call, the brother provided his passport photo and other necessary details.
The details were passed on to the police's investigative unit, the forensic institute and Interpol, and the brother was asked to provide a DNA sample. However, summoning the brother for the DNA sample proved difficult due to tepid diplomatic relations between Israel and Colombia and the lack of cooperation from the Colombian representative with Interpol.
Roth contacted the head of the Foreign Ministry’s Latin America division who instructed the consul in Bogota to arrange an immediate appointment for the brother at the embassy.
Despite obstacles from Colombian authorities, who demanded the deceased’s Colombian passport details before allowing the brother to give a sample, the Interior Minister's office staff eventually located the passport information, which wasn’t found in his apartment or by the police.
With this, the brother was invited to Bogota to provide a DNA sample which was sent to Israel for comparison.
The sample was flown to Israel and entered into a DNA profiling process at the national Israel Police headquarters. It was then sent to the forensic institute for an accurate comparison with the body.
Meanwhile, to prepare for the burial according to Jewish law, Roth conducted a thorough check with the Conversion Authority and Chief Rabbinate of Israel. It was confirmed that the deceased had converted to Judaism in 1996, a year after making aliyah to Israel, making him eligible for burial in a Jewish plot.
As a result, Roth submitted a request to the Population and Immigration Authority to issue a residency certificate for the dead man, allowing him to receive a burial plot in the country.