Family of fallen soldier told to take down headstone because it has a cross on it

Defense Ministry says headstone violates regulation that standardizes graves and bars crosses or other religious symbols; IDF rabbi rules cross harms sanctity of military cemetery

The grave and headstone of IDF soldier David Bogdanovskyi at the Haifa military cemetery (Courtesy)
The grave and headstone of IDF soldier David Bogdanovskyi at the Haifa military cemetery (Courtesy)

The family of a soldier who was killed fighting in the Gaza Strip last year say that they have been given an ultimatum to remove the headstone from his grave because it has a cross on it, or have his body reburied outside the Haifa military cemetery.

The family of Staff Sgt. David Bogdanovskyi told Hebrew media on Monday that they had received a letter from the Public Council for Commemoration of Fallen Soldiers in the Defense Ministry following an ongoing dispute that had seen his headstone covered with a black cloth for several months.

Bogdanovskyi, 19, was killed along with several of his comrades when an anti-tank guided missile hit a Namer armored engineering vehicle they were in, in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis in December.

The Bogdanovskyi family had emigrated from Ukraine to Israel in 2014.

In a Facebook post, his mother defended the decision to put a cross on the headstone, saying, “David loved Israel from the bottom of his heart. The cross engraved on his headstone was an integral part of his personal identity and the faith in which he was raised.”

The family told Hebrew media that it was not clear to them why they were being singled out, claiming there were several other graves in the cemetery that bore crosses.

David Bogdanovskyi. (Courtesy)

“The family are crushed, they cry non-stop and are in despair at the situation,” a relative told Chanel 12 news. “The were told that if they don’t take down the headstone the grave would be moved.”

In Israel, where personal issues like marriage, divorce and burial are governed by religious law, cemeteries are generally separated by religion.

However, in 2013 the Knesset passed a law that enables the burial of non-Jewish soldiers alongside their Jewish comrades in military cemeteries.

The amendment to the law stated that “Any soldier who dies, including a soldier eligible for rights under Article 4(a) of the Law of Return, and whose relatives choose to bury him in a military cemetery, shall be buried in the plot and row, and directly alongside, the soldiers already buried in that plot.”

The key phrase is the one that includes soldiers eligible for immigration rights under Article 4(a) of the Law of Return; that is, non-Jewish family members of Jews. In effect, the bill enables the burial of soldiers belonging to the 300,000-strong population of immigrants from the former Soviet Union — who came to Israel as family members of immigrating Jews even though they are not halachically Jewish — alongside Jewish soldiers.

Soldiers place flowers and flags on graves of fallen Israeli soldiers in Kiryat Shmona Military Cemetery, on April 24, 2023, ahead of Israeli Memorial Day. (Ayal Margolin/ Flash90)

“It’s not clear to us why we are being asked as there are several [graves] with crosses on them,” the family member told Channel 12. ” Why specifically do we have to take down David’s?”

The black marble headstone has an engraved picture of Bogdanovskyi in his military uniform along with his name written in the Ukrainian Cyrillic alphabet, his unit symbols and a small cross.

It sits above the standardized stone plaque that adorns all military graves in Israel.

In response, the Defense Ministry said it has been in a longstanding consultation with the family to find a solution because the headstone violates military cemetery regulation that bar crosses or other religious symbols.

It said that it had received complaints from families of Jewish soldiers buried nearby who said that the presence of the cross “offends them and harms their ability to pray and say the Kaddish mourning prayer.”

It also noted that the chief military rabbi had ruled that the cross harms the sanctity of the cemetery.

“As such, we have been involved for a long time with the Bogdanovskyi family in honest, heartfelt discussions to reach and agreement,” the ministry said, adding that it still hoped to reach a compromise.

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