Geder Yin & Yang [Ed. Note: The opinions expressed in posts reflect those of the author, and do not necessarily represent Kavod v’Nichum.]
My response to a previous essay:
Many chevre, including ours, believe in anonymity. Anonymity for ourselves…and also for the maita. 99% of the time…our chevre knows little if anything about the maita. It is my opinion – the identity of the maita is none of our business and totally unnecessary. We are caring for the body and from a traditional perspective…helping the nehsama on its final journey. To learn who this person was or what they did – might influence the degree of respect being shown.
It would not be a surprise to learn that the maitas we serve – might have had an illness or disability – but, unless there is some marked obvious issue…we wouldn’t know. Unless it affects our fulfilling our role…what difference would knowing make? Likely, nothing positive. Additionally, since we don’t talk during tahara, there is NO discussion so there is no need to curb curiosity. Thus, preparing a body for burial – a most awesome AND spiritual experience – is not the forum for discussing the maita’s personhood, or personal preferences.
In the previous essay it was mentioned that we do not deserve to know more about a trans person’s gender than about a cis person’s gender. DESERVE? What an odd choice of words. To date, the tahara group called upon IS determined by the gender of the nifta – nothing else.
The writer of the earlier essay also brought up the topic of Transgender. Assuming the maita’s body – from the waist down – has female genitalia … a women’s chevre would be called upon. To perform Tahara….what else is needed to know? Nothing. A big dilemma, conundrum, question could confuse things if the maita’s name is Joan…but, from the waist down – it is a John. The funeral director might go ONLY by the name…and have no clue…and call the women.
In another statement of that essay, the writer wrote “In light of the fact that trans and GNC people are deserving of recognition and affirmation…”. I find that faulty. “Deserving of recognition and affirmation…” are NOT part of a tahara. “DESERVING” assumes we are making a judgement call. That is not in our job description.
IF the body has male genital organs…we, the women’s chevre would not be called. IF the body has female organs, the men’s chevre would not be called. To suggest that the women’s chevre MUST accept, be comfortable with and perform a tahara on a body that appears male – is a mistaken assumption. The premise that the men’s chevre MUST be comfortable with caring for a body that appears female is also misguided. While there may be a chevre member comfortable with doing so…after polling many chevre members…the majority would not be comfortable nor would they participate if the maita did NOT resemble them!
One can hold a position that to them makes a world of sense…but realistically – you cannot legislate what makes sense to you – to be required of others.
1) Unless a community is prepared to support a 3rd &/or 4h tahara team…it is highly unlikely that anytime soon every chevre will be willing to participate in taharas where the nifta is not similar to the chevre members.
2) Assuming the call that comes to a chevre…is to care for a mait that matches the chevre members…there would be no issue. If a person was transgendered – which gender their body reflects BELOW THE WAIST, would determine which of the 2 chevre’s is called – the men’s chevre or the women’s chevre. To date-the only two choices. As per the maita, who they were, and who they loved, and how they felt, and what they wore…is of no consequence to the chevre…the role of the chevre is not to judge, but carry out the sacred work of preparing the body.
Whatever the social, personal, religious or political views of the maita were…what difference does it make during a Tahara?
The issue of “genderqueer” people was raised in that essay. While this is certainly a relatively new issue in terms of Tahara, what is not an issue is the reluctance of many to get involved in the “politics” of it and just want to do what they signed up for. WOMEN signed up to care for women. Men signed up to take care of men.
In my view, this is exactly the prevailing view: Women care for women and men for men. Given new developments…new groups may be needed……..a third choice, possibly a 4th …and the writer seems to suggest this already exists.
They wrote: “This is why the Community Hevra Kadisha of Greater Boston is so critical– it allows Jews from all walks of life to care for the dead of our own communities rather than outsourcing this holy task to folks from only one strand of Judaism”. I am a tad surprised by this statement as I am unaware of any Tahara group that would refuse to care for a fellow Jew due to their degree of observance.
The writer of the prior essay wrote, “It is important to me to be cared for in death by people who would have shared my community in life”. I fail to see the rationale for this line of thinking. If the maita was an artist…did I have to hang in an artist’ colony? If the maita was an athlete…do I have to commit to running in the marathon? The role of the chevre is merely to care for a dead body in a traditional Jewish way…not get involved in the politics or private life of the maita. The body presented in front of the chevre is the ONLY consideration. The chevre will take care of the body with sacred kavod without knowing any details, as they do for ALL .
A concern was postulated in that essay that we as chevre MUST consider how the Maita’s family accepts the maita’s sexuality. As a chevre member, I do not agree with the comment WE MUST uphold anything. Why and how would members of a chevre KNOW what the family thinks? And even if we did….why would what the family thinks – affect tahara???
The previous writer penned: “The Chevrah’s role is to reflect the meyt’s understanding of themselves with dignity, love, and complete acceptance”. I disagree; I counter that statement with: The chevres role is solely to show utmost respect to the maita throughout the process of performing the tahara. We don’t reflect anything, we don’t question family, we ONLY care for the body.
I am well aware that one can be passionate about their belief…but, I also do believe other perspectives must be considered as well. Fortunately – in the tahara room, everyone is equal-no questions asked.
Laurie Dinerstein-Kurs hails from Brooklyn, currently living in NJ. Having originally learned about Taharah as a yeshiva student, I knew I would participate as soon as the opportunity presented itself. I have participated in doing Taharah for almost 30 years. I am currently the ROSHA of our chevrah. When not doing Taharah, I taught school – up until I retired and went back to school and became a chaplain. I held the Federation position of County (Mercer) Chaplain for 15 years. My two children have blessed us with grandchildren.
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Gamliel Courses
The next course in the cycle of core courses offered by the Gamliel Institute will be Course 2 – Chevrah Kadisha: Taharah & Shmirah. It will be offered live online during the Winter from January 8th to March 26th on Tuesday evenings, for 90 minutes each week for 12 weeks. The classes will begin at 5 pm PST/8 pm EST. Primary instructor will be Rick Light, with guest instructors.
Registration is now open – click here.
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Gamliel Café
Gamliel Students are invited to a free informal online session, held monthly. On the third (3rd) THURSDAY of each month, different person(s) will offer a short teaching or share some thoughts on a topic of interest to them, and those who are online will have a chance to respond, share their own stories and information, and build our Gamliel Institute community connections. This initiative is being headed up by Rena Boroditsky and Rick Light. You should receive email reminders monthly. The next scheduled session of the Gamliel Café is December 20th. More details will be sent out soon.
If you miss a Gamliel Café and wish access to the recording (if one is made) please send a request to receive it after the date of the session.
If you are interested in teaching a session, you can contact us at rboroditsky@jewisgh-funerals.org, rlight@jewish-funerals.org, or info@jewish-funerals.org.
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Gamliel Continuing Education Courses
Gamliel Continuing Education Courses, advanced sessions focusing in on different topics. These will usually be in groups of three ninety minute sessions (three consecutive Wednesdays) offered roughly twice yearly, with different topics addressed in each series. The goal is to look at these topics in more depth than possible during the core courses. The first course took place in Fall 2017, focusing on Psalms, and the second was on The World to Come and the Zohar.
The next live course will be November 28th, December 5th, and December 12th. We will continue to look at death as seen in the Zohar, with a focus on the Idra Rabbah mateials, taught by Beth Huppin. This is a stand-alone course – you do not need to have taken the prior course to register for this one.
Registration is required, and there will be a tuition charge of $72 for each three session series. Contact us for information, by email info@jewish-funerals.org, or call 410-733-3700, or simply register online at www.jewish-funerals.org/gamreg/.
You can also register for prior courses and access them via recording.
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Taste of Gamliel Series
The 2018 Taste of Gamliel series has concluded, but it is not too late if you want to access the recordings. You can Register for the 2018 series, Your’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone: Jewish Practices of Remembrance, or any of the series from prior years, and view them via recordings. There are usually five sessions in a series, and each session is approximately 90 minutes.
The 2019 series is being planned now. Registration for Taste of Gamliel is mandatory to access the sessions. The Registration fee of $36 for each series helps us defray the out of pocket costs.
Those registered will be sent the information on how to connect to the sessions. To register, click here: register.
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Donations are always needed and most welcome to support the work of Kavod v’Nichum and the Gamliel Institute, helping us to bring you the annual conference, offer community trainings, provide scholarships to students, refurbish and update course materials, expand our teaching, support programs such as Taste of Gamliel, the Gamliel Café, and the Gamliel Continuing Education courses, provide and add to online resources, encourage and support communities in establishing, training, and improving their Chevrah Kadisha, and assist with many other programs and activities. There is a matching donation program in progress so your dollars go further. See the website for details.
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c/o David Zinner, Executive Director, Kavod v’Nichum,
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SUBMISSIONS WELCOME
Please note: this blog depends on you for content. Without you it cannot publish new material. If you have an idea for an entry you would like to submit to this blog, please be in touch. Email J.blair@jewish-funerals.org. We are always interested in original unpublished materials that would be of interest to our readers, relating to the broad topics surrounding the continuum of Jewish preparation, planning, rituals, rites, customs, practices, activities, and celebrations approaching the end of life, at the time of death, during the funeral, in the grief and mourning process, and in comforting those dying and those mourning, as well as the actions and work of those who address those needs, including those serving in Bikkur Cholim, Caring Committees, the Chevrah Kadisha, as Shomrim, funeral providers, in funeral homes and mortuaries, and operators and maintainers of cemeteries.
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