Forensic medicine and religion in the identification of dead soldiers' bodies

This paper offers an ethnographic analysis of the conflict surrounding the identification of dead Israeli soldiers, which is being performed both scientifically (by the Institute of Forensic Medicine) and religiously (by the army rabbinate). Despite the Institute's claims for superior objectivity and accuracy, it is the army rabbinate that has the final authority over identification and burial. The paper discusses cultural and organizational aspects of the conflict over identification, and explores related issues such as DNA repositories. It is argued that Israeli and Jewish identities, although sometimes discursively (politically) separated, are still closely tied in more fundamental, non-discursive practices of body identification. This traditional fusion, however, has been recently challenged by public and civil discontent with the performance of the army rabbinate.