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Jewish Insights on Death and Mourning » (1ST)

Book cover image of Jewish Insights on Death and Mourning by Jack Riemer

Authors: Jack Riemer (Editor), Sherwin B. Nuland, Sherwin B. Nuland (Editor), Sherwin B. Nuland
ISBN-13: 9780815607335, ISBN-10: 0815607334
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Date Published: April 2002
Edition: 1ST

Author Biography: Jack Riemer

Jack Riemer is the rabbi of Congregation Beth Tikvah in West Boca Raton, Florida.

Book Synopsis

As Jack Riemer demonstrates in this collection of Jewish resources for mourning and healing, the Jewish tradition has much to offer those who seek its help in time of need. Here are personal as well as practical writings by contemporary authors about the Shivah period, Kaddish, Yizkor, Yahrzeit, and less familiar practices to honor the dead and comfort the living. Some writers describe new rituals that were created to fill special needs. Others raise questions about the tradition: Do Jews believe in an afterlife? How do we mourn the stillborn child? Should we always strive to prolong life? Reflections on these and other issues related to death and dying make this an indispensable resource for coping with some of life's most difficult and sacred moments.

	Acknowledgments	xi
	Foreword	xv
	Preface	xix
	Introduction: Jewish Insights on Death	3
Part 1	Answers	21
1.	What I Have Learned from Illness	23
	To Wake Up in the Hospital Early in the Morning	24
	Coronary Connections: From a Hospital, Some Secrets of the Heart Revealed	24
	A Wake-up Call	33
	In Praise of Denial	35
	A Small Miracle Happened Here	37
	Charlie and the Angel of Death	40
2.	When Death Arrives	48
	Like Removing a Hair from Milk	49
	Rabbi Salanter's Last Night	49
	Prelude	50
	The Power of Music at the End	51
	Should We Tell the Patient the Truth?	57
	Let Them Know What You Want	59
	The Traditional Vidui	61
	Kayla's Prayer	62
	Saying Goodbye	68
	Letting Go	73
	A Prayer for Health-Care Providers to Offer When a Patient Dies	78
3.	Hevra Kadisha: The Holy Society	81
	A Sacred Duty	82
	The Burial Society	83
	How Tradition Brought One Community to Life	92
	Bubby's Last Gift	101
4.	The Burial	108
	What Rabban Gamliel Did	108
	The Funeral of Franz Josef	109
	Suggestions to Those Who Plan My Funeral	110
	A Rabbi's Ethical Will	113
	No Burden Too Heavy	118
	Keri'ah: The Tearing of the Garment	121
	Why Bury?	124
	How We Bury	126
	Why No Viewing	127
	Why in Tachrichim?	127
	Why Stones Instead of Flowers?	128
	Ha-Makom Yenahem: The Place Gives Comfort	130
5.	Shivah	141
	The First Meal	142
	The Therapeutic Function of Shivah	142
	Who's the Host? Who's the Guest?	151
	The Art of Making a Shivah Call	152
	The Shivah Minyan	157
	Covering Mirrors	161
	Why Psalm 49?	161
	Knitting Up the Tear	163
6.	Kaddish	168
	When Death Comes	168
	A Commentary on the Kaddish	169
	Going to Shul	172
	A Year of Grieving, A Year of Growing	174
	Saying Kaddish: The Making of a "Regular,"	177
7.	The Year and After	183
	The Law Sets the Limits	184
	The Five Stages of Grief	184
	Shloshim: The First Thirty Days After Burial	186
	A Way to Mark Shloshim	191
	Yizkor: The Unending Conversation	194
	I Am Older Now: A Yahrzeit Candle Lit at Home	198
	After the Year, What?	200
	Diary of a Young Widow: A Work in Progress	207
	In Many Houses	219
	Name	220
Part 2	Questions	221
8.	Is Euthanasia Permitted?	223
	Laws Concerning One in a Dying Condition	224
	Rabbi Yehudah's Handmaiden	224
	The Maggid Rediscovers Music	225
	I Want a Choice	225
	Final Entrance	229
	Long-Term Dignity	233
	On Choosing the Hour of Our Death	237
	Death with Dignity vs. Euthanasia	244
	Not Through Yet	257
9.	How Shall We Mourn the Stillborn?	260
	A Yizkor Prayer for Stillborn and Infant Deaths	261
	I Lost a Child But Did Not Mourn Her	262
	Neonatal Death	265
	Baby Brother's Gone to Heaven	268
	Three Responses to Miscarriage	271
	Faith Learns to Fill a Need	277
10.	How Does One Survive the Loss of Children?	280
	The Story of Rabbi Meir and Beruriah	283
	Plutarch to His Wife After the Loss of Their Child	284
	Not on Merit, But on Mazal	284
	We Will Get Better, We Must Get Better	285
	On Being the Kaddish	297
	Firepower in Mitzvot	304
11.	Do We Believe in an Afterlife?	309
	In the World-to-Come	311
	The Birth	311
	The Ship	313
	Is There Life After Death?	313
	Permission to Believe	328
	The Here and the Hereafter	335
	The Fate of the Soul	338
	Love As Strong As Death	348
	Where Does It End?	352
12.	What Do We Need Death For?	354
	Contributors	361
	Permissions Acknowledgments	369