If one walks into the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan (a five minute stroll from our home) and makes a right turn from the central Atrium, one comes face to face with the exhibit on the religions of Egypt which glorified death, with mortuary artifacts over 4000 years old. Death for the Egyptians was the realm of the spirits and the gods. The pyramids were homages to death from which, it was believed, the spirit of the dead ascended to heaven and joined the immortals.
Anthropologists and social psychologists will often state that the reason religion exists is because of the fear of death people have. Despite the Jewish belief in Olam Haba, I think that it is remarkable that hardly anything regarding life after death is mentioned in our Tanach, and there is almost total silence on life after death. When it is mentioned, it is sparingly and by allusion. Why so?
Perhaps it is because too intense a focus on heaven is capable of justifying every kind of evil on earth. For example, Jews were burned to death to save their immortal souls. Every injustice on earth, every act of violence can theoretically be defended on the grounds that true justice is reserved for life after death. A feeling of assurance of life and justice beyond the veil of death permits justification for horrific evils and injustice in this life.
Perhaps this is why all of Kohelet’s (Ecclesiastes) cynicism, and Job’s railing against injustice were not answered in one sentence: “There is life after death and justice will be done”.
(On a personal note, whenever I read Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) I think of the selfishness of King Solomon, who was purported to be its author. There is a constant ”I” throughout,”I, Solomon, did this did and that and found it was all for naught.” It is all about his experiences, his doings, his feelings, things done for himself. As I read, I wonder what did he do for others?
Did Solomon do anything for anyone else? We don’t see that stated in the text. I have to ask myself, could the Solomon we read about do a taharah for a 16 year old that drowned, or for a 40 year old Aids victim, or an 8 month old abandoned child, as our Chevrah Kadisha did last year? Solomon defined himself by what he did and experienced himself; members of Chevrei Kadisha define ourselves by what we do for others).
Against this mindset of death, Judaism protests with every sinew of its soul. Life is sacred, death defiles. King David is told by God that he would not be allowed to build the temple because , “dam larov shafachta”, you have shed much blood, and have too much of it on your hands. “Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world”, the Mishna in Sanhedrin4:5 tells us. Life, and Human life specifically, is sacred beyond comprehension.
Judaism is a religion of life and therefore even those who have had the slightest contact with death and the dead need purification before they can enter sacred space. God lives in life, and must never be associated with death. One message resonates through the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (High Holy days) prayers : “Remember us for Life and write us in the book of Life.” Even the ashes of the Red heifer –the color of blood and the symbol of life – must be dissolved in the waters of life (living water) to create the lustrating water of purification.
The verdict of history is that those that worship death, die, while those that sanctify life, live on.
“Bila hamavet lanetetzach” we often intone often after a funeral: “May He Destroy Death Forever.” May the God of life, in whose image we are created, teach all humanity to serve Him by sanctifying life.
Isaac Pollak is President and CEO of an international marketing business for almost 4 decades at this point. He holds graduate degrees in Marketing, Industrial Psychology, Art History, and Jewish Material Culture from City College, LIU, JTS, and Columbia University. He has been a student in the
A TASTE OF GAMLIEL
The third session (Rabbi Burt Visotsky) will be on March 29th. All sessions will be recorded and available for (re-)viewing by those who are registered.
Chevrah Kadisha & Spiritual Care Providers Conference in Israel
Planning to be in Israel May 5th 2015? If so, the American Kavod v'Nichum and its Gamliel Institute cordially invite you to attend a Chevrah Kadisha and Spiritual Care conference focused on traditional Jewish practices at the end of life.
Kavod v’Nichum Israel-American Kenes
Dignity, Simplicity, Comfort and Spirituality At Life’s End
What: A program of learning and an exchange of information focusing on Chevra Kadisha, Spiritual Care and end of life issues. (Program in English)
Why: To compare and contrast American and Israel end of life practices – funeral and burial planning, tahara, shmira, mourning; to learn from each other, share problems, network, strategize, brainstorm and explore working together.
For Whom: Chevra Kadisha administrators and workers, rabbis and rabbinic students, Israeli spiritual care providers; social workers, medical professionals, Chevra Kadisha students at Ariel University, advocacy groups, members of the national religious community, cemetery managers from kibbutzim, moshavim, civil and state sponsored cemeteries.
Sponsor: The Gamliel Institute of Kavod v’Nichum, an American non-profit organization that provides education and training for Chevra Kadisha groups.
When: Tuesday May 5, 2015
Time: 8:30am-5:00 pm
Where: Jerusalem – Yad Ben Tzvi – Ibn Gabirol Street 14
More Information: Contact Nomi Roth Elbert (nomire@gmail.com ) to be put on our mailing list.
UPCOMING GAMLIEL INSTITUTE COURSES
Starting in May:
Chevrah Kadisha: Educating, Organizing, & Training. Tuesdays. 12 online sessions. (Orientation session on Monday May 25th, classes start the 26th). 8-9:30 pm EST. Working with and educating the members of the Chevrah Kadisha, your congregation, the community, other organizations, and the public. Includes undertaking a project that will have practical and real world effect, and will also serve as information and a resource for others.
You can “>jewish-funerals.org/gamreg. Contact us for more information about scholarships or any other questions. info@jewish-funerals.org or call 410-733-3700.
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