Q. 2. See question above. Does the above prohibition to derive benefit from a dead body apply also to the cadavers of Gentiles?
A. Many Poskim maintain that it applies to a Jews and non-Jews alike.[ Some Rishonim hold that it doesn’t apply to a non-Jew.
HaGra (YD 349) cites the Tosfot Bava Kama 10a and Rashba who hold that it doesn’t apply to a non-Jew.
Pischei Teshuva 349:1 quotes the Avnei Shoham who says that it is only a Biblical prohibition to benefit from a Jewish dead body but a Rabbinic prohibition to benefit from a non-Jewish dead body.
The Rashba Teshuva 1:365 rejects the position that a non-Jewish corpse is permitted for benefit. He seems to conclude that it is just as forbidden to benefit from a non-Jewish corpse as it is for a Jewish corpse. Shulchan Aruch YD 349:1 rules like the Rashba.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller, Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu Shlit’a and Horav Kalman Ochs Shlit’a.
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