It's my understanding that Judaism has some strict requirement on how long can pass between death and burial, and that the time period is relatively short.
Now, typically, when someone dies in the coldest months of the year here, they're put into storage until the spring thaw, because they can't be buried in the frozen ground.
So obviously waiting months doesn't work for Jews, if my understanding is correct. But what does happen when a Jewish person dies while the ground is frozen?
What happens when a Jew dies while the ground is frozen is, they dig the grave anyway, somehow.
I don't suppose mausoleums are allowed..?
I wonder how, too. Maybe they have some sort of funky ground-heater? Or maybe there's some sort of foul-weather exception to the rules that I'm not aware of.
You should write to The Straight Dope and ask!
HJALP
Re: HJALP
Technology to the rescue?
The story seems to say that in pre-propane-heater times people either broke the ground with incredible efforts or just waited till spring. The Jewish tradition was stretched to mean "as soon as possible" rather than "within 24 hours".
What I've found
In Jerusalem, the tradition is to bury the person before sundown and with a flat, more plaque-like marker than any upright headstone or other statue-ish thing. In other places, it is done as soon as possible (I believe it must be before the Sabbath) and usually takes about a day. Frozen ground means more work, although it should be able to be dealt with without such measures as jackhammers and dynamite: building a fire, boiling water, some other application of heat to make it softer, big strong men with determined faces and good tools.
And mausolea are right out. You come from the earth, and you return to the earth. That's that.
If you care to strictly adhere to the law, that is.