Q. I was told that Horav Miller mentioned that one of the reasons for our terrible Covid Pandemic is related to the lack of honor given to the dead such as cremating the bodies. Did he really say that? What is the reason or source for such an assumption?
A. I was also present when Horav Miller Shlit’a asserted that one of the causes for the current pandemic is the desecration of the meisim (deceased) including the cremation of their bodies and profanation of their ashes.
The Rov quoted Sefer Chasidim (451) that teaches when a ‘dever’ or plague strikes a town, we ought to check on the way the departed are being buried, such as their bodies being placed on the grave improperly, or their burial vestments are decayed or moldy. This statement is quoted also by Be’er Heitev on Shulchan Aruch (Y.D. 352: 1). See Sefer Chasidim (730) for a similar ruling. (See also ‘That Is My Answer’ on this parsha)
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as advised by Horav Shlomo Miller and Horav Aharon Miller Shlit’a