Responsum: On Burial in a Crypt

Question: The question [was asked] of R. Natronay: “What is the correct way to bury [a dead person]—is it to place him in a crypt and to place a slab of stone above the crypt so that the dirt and mud do not touch his face, or, as we [now] do, to place dirt all over it [i.e., his corpse]?”

Answer: What concern would the poor deceased have and what does he care? Still, even so, to place loose earth on his face is shameful [to the deceased] and it was not right to do this. But not all countries follow the same practice. In some places where there is a very cool and dry atmosphere, such as in the land of Israel, they place [the body] in a vault and place no dirt over it, as they rely on the fact that the atmosphere there is cool and dry, so that the corpse will become desiccated and will not be consumed by worms. But in Babylonia, where the atmosphere is not dry and cool, they bury the person in a coffin and place dirt on his face and over his eyes, and in the event of rain, they bring along dry earth and place it on his face, and they cover his face with his clothes and sprinkle earth over his clothes and over his entire [body]. When they have sprinkled it to the height of one handbreadth, they place a board—that is, the cover of the coffin—over the loose earth, and they then once again sprinkle a great deal of dirt until a heap the height of a cubit or more has been created. Now the reason why dirt is placed on it is that the remedy for it [to prevent its consumption by worms] is dust, for thus it is written: For dust you are and unto dust you shall return (Genesis 3:19).