Excerpt from Arutz Sheva 08-25-08

Eddie’s comments in red.

9. Final Rest for Vodka Bottle

by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

Jewish law generally forbids placing objects in the coffin of a Jew, but rabbis in Europe recently were faced with the dilemma of how to fulfill a Jew's request that he be buried with what he considered his best friend--a bottle of Vodka.
The question arose after a former Soviet Jew living in Germany died and left a will stating his wish to a friend that he be buried with his best friend, a bottle of Vodka, with which he had never parted during his lifetime, the European Jewish Press reported.

The local rabbi was unsure how to decide the question according to Jewish law, not wanting to violate the Torah but also wanting to respect a deceased person's last wishes. As a whole, Jewish law refers to the Talmud (oral law) and the Torah refers to the 5 books of Moses. According to Jewish law, if there’s a conflict of interest, the Talmud (oral law) takes precedence over the Torah (books of Moses). The Scribes and Pharisees often deceitfully refer to the Talmud (oral law) as Torah (the authentic Word of God).

He contacted halachic [Jewish law] experts at the Rabbinical Center of Europe (RCE) in Brussels, which assists more than 600 rabbis across Europe on issues of daily life.

To me, it seems as if a group of Scribes and Pharisees have gone and go through the Old Testament looking for loopholes, thus writing them down in texts they call the Talmud. And this is what they live by; this is Jewish law, this is halachic. It seems like these guys were up to the same old tricks 2,000 yrs ago.

Matt 5:21-22

21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:

22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

KJV

They learned that the man emigrated from the Soviet Union to Germany in the 1970s. He had a good friend who, unlike himself, was active in the   Jewish community. The friend explained to the rabbis, "Every day he would drink a half a glass of Vodka in the morning and a half in the evening."
Rabbi Yaakov Rozhe, chairman of the Zaka Rabbinical Council and a representative of Israel’s chief rabbinate in the Medical Institute of Abu Kabir, ruled that there is no problem in Jewish law if the bottle is placed near the coffin. He pointed out that an object may not be placed in a coffin or between it and the ground underneath.