Our major concern for the post-WTC period is to help rebuild the family life of the victims families. This includes finding and identifying the body for proper and honorable burial.

In order to help the families of the victims of the WTC atrocity, the government relaxed the law requiring a three year waiting period before issuing a death certificate for a MP (missing person) without finding any body parts. The procedure for this is to petition the court to issue the death certificate based on evidence submitted. They are required to show that the MP was employed at WTC and was at work that morning before the attack. If there were no survivors to testify as to his presence on the job, then they will accept testimony from family members or friends that the MP left early enough to work that morning and should have been at work before the attack. A comprehensive police search will continue, and if they find him alive at a later date the courts will deal with the matter.

The Medical Examiner will issue a death certificate if a body part is found and ID (identified). Even if only a finger is found and there is no reason to assume that he bled to death due to this injury, nevertheless he will be declared dead because the vast majority of body parts found at the site are from crushed bodies, and if he did get out alive he would have been taken to a hospital for his injury. The victims at the hospital were treated for burns, smoke inhalation, injuries due to debris and trampling. Rarely did they treat a victim for an amputated limb.

WTC death certificates are coded differently. If the number in the upper left hand side is proceeded with DX it means WTC victim, no body found. If it is preceded with DM it means WTC victim, body found.

With victims of a mass disaster it becomes highly impractical to have a thousand or more people searching for their relatives, review each body found in order to ID it. A CPU picture ID recognition program is what should be used. The pictures of all the MP are scanned into the program and then compared to the one taken of the body found. This will limit the possibilities to only several families.

Creating a database of the victims fingerprints and DNA ID, is more practical in the WTC disaster since there are not many recognizable bodies. A teeth x-ray database is too complicated and not so necessary. If they find the teeth, they can retrieve its DNA ID and then request the dental records for that person. Some dental records may be under an incorrect name because they used an insurance card belonging to someone else. Bone structure ID in mass disasters are not reliable because out of three thousand bodies they have found some with similar bone structure. Although all available ID are utilized, the final decision is usually decided with fingerprints and it's DNA ID, or with teeth x-rays and it's DNA ID, or DNA ID by itself if other ID are not available.

A legal ID is an ID where the odds against an error is one in several million. When making a comparison, one similarity may be more rare than another, therefore some legal ID may have less similarities than others. The same way they add up the odds per similarity with one type of ID, so can they add up the odds per similarity using different ID. Therefore, if needed, they can use part fingerprints, part teeth x-rays, and part DNA ID, to total the odds against error to one in several million.

The police are in charge of fingerprint ID. The Medical Examiners office is in charge of DNA ID. A team of specially trained dentists are in charge of teeth x-ray ID.

If a body part is ID to be one chance in ten thousand against error, this is not legal ID. If among the victims there is only one comparison and there are no other claims on this body part, then the family should be informed of the situation and given the option to claim it.

According to halacha (orthodox jewish law) any ID with the odds against error of one in a thousand is considered halachik ID. Therefore, a jewish family is required to bury a body part even if the ID is not legal ID. Furthermore, any Rabbinical court that has undertaken the task of permitting the spouse of a WTC victim to remarry, must obtain all ID information available to determine whether all the ID together meet the halachik ID requirement.

The reliability of a fingerprint database and a DNA ID database is based on a person presenting his personal ID to the agency performing the fingerprinting or DNA ID recording. Many citizens are not finger printed, especially if they never applied for a drivers license. If the victims fingerprints are not retrievable from any database then the family submits some of the victims personal objects from where the authorities can extract the fingerprints. Today there are very few DNA ID records. Generally, the family submits the victims combs and undergarments for the labs to extract the DNA ID.

Teeth x-rays are in the possession of dentists. Their reliability is less than fingerprint data because some people visit the dentist using an insurance card belonging to someone else.

The suspicion of a family participating in fraud by submitting someone else's objects and combs for ID is minimized by the fear that they probably will find and ID his teeth which is most durable. They will then see a contridiction between the dental ID and the DNA ID. This would be cause for a criminal fraud investigation and punishment by law. Furthermore, in a case like this they would only need a death certificate and would not come to a Rabbinical court for permission to remarry.

Documented pictures and videos submitted as evidence are as reliable as a death certificates since both are considered testimony on paper. If they were not documented by a reliable government agency they must be investigated for forgery or the likes.

According to halacha, a person is presumed dead if the odds of finding him alive are one in a thousand against finding him alive. Therefore, if the airline company issued an official letter stating that a certain person boarded and did not leave one of the four hijacked airplanes involved in the WTC conspiracy, that person is presumed dead at the time of the crash because it would have been impossible to survive the crash.

If someone was seen in the window of one of the towers and recognized at the time it collapsed, and was not accounted for, he is presumed dead. The time of death would be determined on which floor he was at the time. If he was on one of the upper floors the time of death would be when the building collapsed. If he was on a lower floor the time of death would be determined when it is estimated by the experts that the odds of finding him alive is one in a thousand.

If they find part of a foot and without it he could not have walked away, if he did live to exit the building he would have been found and transported to the nearest hospital. No private citizen trying to escape for his life would burden himself and endanger the victim by carrying him to his private doctor who would have anyway admitted him to a hospital. Therefore, if he was not accounted for he is presumed dead.

If after the jetliner crashed into the north tower, 1 WTC, he was seen from the window of a floor above the point of impact, after the impact, before it collapsed, he is presumed dead because it was not possible to reach the lower floors after the impact since the stair-wells collapsed and the elevators were not functioning. The time of death would be when the building collapsed.

For all the previous cases he is presumed dead even before the body search and ID is completed.

If he called home and told them that he is in a floor above the point of impact and is trapped, and the family was convinced that it is he who spoke to them, this is not sufficient proof that he was there. If he called on his cell phone there is no way of pinpointing from which floor he called. If he called from the office phone immediately after the impact, assuming it was then still working, he could have used the cordless and called from a floor below the point of impact. If however, experts estimate that for the distance from the office to the floor below the point of impact the cordless could not function, he is presumed dead when the north tower collapsed. The floors above the point of impact for 1 WTC are estimated from ninety and up. For 2 WTC they are estimated from seventy six and up.

Regarding the south tower, 2 WTC it was originally thought that the situation was similar to the north tower and that the stair-wells collapsed and that the elevators were not functioning after the impact, consequently no one survived at or above the point of impact, after the impact. Recent investigative reporting by Newsweek discloses that stair-well “A”, miraculously did not collapse until the building collapsed, and that some people who miraculously survived the impact, with luck found stair-well A, and by mustering all their strength made their way down to safety not deterred by the debris and bodies lying on the stairs. It is estimated that between sixteen to twenty people escaped who were at or above the point of impact, after the impact. Therefore, anyone seen or definitely known to have been at or above the point of impact, at the time of impact, in 2 WTC is not assumed dead at the time of collapse of the building unless from the time when last seen or heard from there was no time left for him to have left the building. If there was time for him to have gotten to the lower floors he is presumed dead when it is estimated that there is only one chance in a thousand that anyone trapped in the building is alive. If there was no time for him to have descended to the lower floors he is presumed dead at the time of the collapse of the building.

If he was employed in 1 WTC in one of the offices above the point of impact, and he left home that morning to arrive at work on time which was before the impact, we assume that he did not decide to take the day off that morning and lose a days profit. This however, is not sufficient proof that the victim was at his office at the time of impact. He may have left for a coffee or visited another office in the building below the point of impact, or went to the bank and before he arrived he saw the crash and escaped. This case is similar to the case where he called his family from 1 WTC or 2 WTC informing them that he was above the point of impact after the impact. Both cases are considered as strong evidence that he was there after the impact. With the addition of the fact that if he was there he could not have survived, the argument that he is dead is enhanced. The concluding evidence is that if after a modern comprehensive police search lasting twelve months, he was not found, then he is presumed dead at the time of the collapse of the building, and that his remains were consumed in the two thousand degree jet fuel fire.

Regarding 2 WTC we initially assume that they all escaped after they saw the airplane crash into 1 WTC. With fifteen large high speed elevators and four wide stair-wells, and the fact that elevators going down fill up first at the top floors, the entire building section from floor seventy six and up could have been evacuated before the second airplane crashed into it.

If a victims teeth were found, he is dead. If a body part was found that he could theoretically live without it, however, in an accident situation were there lacked professional help, and they did not find him, we must assume that if he is alive he or another non-professional was able to stop the bleeding. If however the experts feel that the odds to have saved him in this situation was one in a thousand, he is presumed dead.

If a body part was found such as a finger, usually one does not bleed to death if a finger is severed. However, most body parts found in the WTC disaster area are from crushed bodies as explained before. This is not enough evidence to presume that he is dead. Added to this if he was not found afterwards. If he did get out alive the emergency workers would have found him and acted according to regulations, by admitting him to the nearest hospital. One does not run away with a severed finger. The concluding evidence is, that if after a modern comprehensive police search lasting twelve months, he was not found, then he is presumed dead, and that the rest of his remains were consumed in the two thousand degree jet fuel fire.

If they did not find the victims body parts we initially assume that he escaped with the vast majority of the occupants. However, if after a modern comprehensive police search lasting twelve months, he was not found, we have a case in question that must be dealt with according the halachik rules and we cannot presume that he is definitely dead. The first rule of dealing with a question is to first try to clarify the question. In our situation, the Medical Examiner has informed us that they expect to conclude the search and body ID operation by March 2003, or six months after the twelve month comprehensive police search mentioned previously. Consequently, we must wait until the search and body ID operation is completed. Afterwards, we may deal with this question.

It is necessary to alleviate the emotional and financial burdens of the victims families in order to help guide them through this waiting period and the adjustment period. Through government and other charitable agencies financial and psychological help is available. They can arrange trained help to come to their homes and help with the children and the home.

If after the conclusion of a modern comprehensive police search lasting twelve months, the victim was not found, then the chance of finding the victim alive is very small, and we assume that he died in the building, and that his remains were consumed in the two thousand degree jet fuel fire. This assumption does not mean that we presume him to be dead. According to Biblical law in this case his widow may remarry but according to Rabbinical law a Rabbinical court is forbidden to allow her to remarry unless she must remarry in order to preserve her mental health, and this fact is confirmed by an experienced psychotherapist. If she feels compelled to remarry because she needs help in raising her children, or to keep her from sin, then a competent Rov who has studied this treatise in Hebrew should be consulted.

If they were married by a Reform or Conservative clergyman, we can rely on those who nullify their marriage ceremonies because they do not perform them according to halacha. This permit is only for a case where there is a Rabbinical prohibition of remarrying. In normal cases when there is a Biblical question of remarrying we may not rely on this permit.

If the question is about his wife, then there are either two possibilities, she is either dead or she abandoned him. This is ample grounds to issue a Heter Maoh Rabonim to allow the husband to remarry.

In our days with our high-tech body ID methods we usually do not need an eye witness to issue a death certificate. Even if the body was burnt alive, some biological remains can be extracted for DNA ID. Furthermore, even when a death occurs abroad, a certified death certificate may be obtained. However, if someone drowns at sea, very often the body is not found and then an eye witness is needed in order to issue a death certificate. According to the halacha the witness must convince the Rabbinical court that the person who drowned is dead either because he was present when they found the body and when they pronounced him dead, or according to his description of the events it would have been impossible for him to have survived.

If he names and gives the ID of a certain person who according to his eye witness testimony fell off a ship and drowned, and they looked for his body from the deck of the ship in all directions until the experts estimated that if he did not surface he is dead through drowning, we do not accept this as testimony about his death. There still remains many factors to consider for his survival. He may have been carried by ocean current out of sight and then he surfaced to be saved by a passing ship, or he may have inflated his life vest when surfacing, or just swam ashore.

There are several major factors to consider when estimating the length of time of a victim who drowns in sea, can remain alive. One, if he remained under water or if he surfaced and again drowned. Two, the temperature of the water, his weight, and how warmly was he dressed. Three, the strength and size of the waves, and the amount of turbulence of the sea waters. Hypothermia due to cold water can kill within five to ten minutes, which is faster than drowning. The estimated survival time is one of the factors needed for testimony. The second factor is the distance they were able view clearly from the ship. Fog and high waves limit accurate visibility. Telescopes and binoculars increase visibility, depending on it's power and sharp lens. Therefore, if after calculating his possible swimming speed plus the water current speed it is estimated that he could not have traveled out of clear view before he would have died, and he did not surface, or that he did surface but drowned thereafter, he is presumed dead.

Aerial surveillance by satellite or helicopter is superior by many factors. First, the optical equipment is superior allowing clear viewing in fog. Second, viewing from above encompasses a much larger area and allows better viability through waves, therefore, they would be able to see if he survived.

We express our appreciation to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York and especially to Shiya Rabowsky RPA-C, Deputy Director of Investigations, for their cooperation in our quest for the necessary information needed to make the proper decision regarding permitting a spouse to remarry.