Taharah and the Paradox of Purity of the Dead

In Torah touching a dead person is one of the sources of impurity (tumah).  Tumah is often described as an atmospheric coating or layer enveloping the impure person. It sounds almost like a metaphor for grief. Though it is invisible it was considered real. The corpse has given up its life spark. Tumah is not itself evil; it is not similar to dirt of filth. It’s a fact of life, an act of nature; certain phenomena in the world create impurity. There is no prohibition in Vayikra against an Israeli becoming impure (there are prohibitions for a Kohen, specifically concerning fitness for service in the Temple). The dangerous sin is remaining impure, failing to dispose of impurity or allowing it to come into contact with the sacred. Purifying can be accomplished for an individual by the passage of a set amount of time and cleaning oneself, usually in water.

There is a kind of paradox in the Torah portions focused on purity. The Torah tells us that touching a corpse makes one impure but the act of preparing a dead body for burial is the ultimate act of purification.

What happens in the taharah ritual that makes this mystery possible? My  third taharah enabled me to experience both the paradox and the mystery. I did not know the woman who died (the meitah), but we were told she had died peacefully. I personally prayed that I might see God reflected in the face of the meitah, and also in the faces of my friends as we joined in this work.

Taharah is a five-part ritual starting with preliminary prayers, followed by the gentle washing with warm water of each part of the body—right side and then the left always keeping the body covered for modesty, the purification (also called taharah), the dressing, the laying out (putting the meitah in the casket), and the final prayers.

During the washing  verses from the Songs of Songs are chanted, saying that the body is beautiful. Again this seems paradoxical; looking at myself and at the other women moving vitally about, I understood that any body that is alive is beautiful, and any body that is dead has lost that claim to beauty forever. The prayers remind you of the body's former splendor.

Yet I also felt uplifted as the prayer leader chanted the prayers to familiar nusach (melody and rhythm). The third step, the purification, which is the pouring of 9 kavs (about 24 quarts) of water over the body continuously while chanting Tahorah hi (familiar from the morning liturgy) is the act that changes the corpse from being a source of impurity (something that reeks of death and must be removed from God’s presence in the temple) to pure. This purity is further recognized by the dressing of the meitah in white cotton clothes that emulate the clothes worn by the Kohen HaGadol (the High Priest) when he entered the Holy of Holies. The meitah then becomes a source of holiness, dressed like the Kohen Hagadol, ready to enter the presence of God.

This meitah radiated a purity, a calm, a readiness for her journey. We had prepared her body, but what of her neshama. Here the liturgy continues to be a resource; it has us chanting from Isaiah and Zechariah, reminding us that God clothes the soul like a bride. The meitah is about to enter an entirely new relationship, this time with God. White, the color of the garments (called tachrichm) and the use of water are also common symbols of the marital bond.

I can't say I come away from a taharah understanding life and death. At Jewish funerals, mourners shovel dirt onto the coffin: a final task we can perform for each other, a recognition of death’s finality, a way of reaching closure. Performing a taharah is like that, just a lot more intense.

What we are, how we can be simultaneously holy-and-in a body:  impure and pure — these are mysteries, maybe paradoxes. (I thank God every morning for the miracle of my body). How we become holy-beyond-our-bodies (I thank God every morning for my neshama, my soul, calling it pure in the exact same words the members of a chevrah kadisha will someday use to sanctify my body), is not something I can intellectually understand. But I know that I want to honor the whole journey, and that birth and death are points of contact with this great thing I cannot entirely grasp. Rabbi Ibn Pukedei teaches that life and death are brothers, they dwell together, cling together, and cannot be separated.

Muriel Dance has just retired from her work as a hospice chaplain at Skirball Hospice, a program of the LA Jewish Home. She is leading a Wise Aging workshop series at Ikar, her congregation in LA. She graduated as a Jewish Chaplain from the Academy for Jewish Religion, California and received Board Certification in January 2013. Previously, Muriel had earned her Ph.D. in English from UC Berkeley, worked as a professor and later a dean in higher education, spent a sabbatical year in Israel at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and chaired the adult education committee at her congregation in Seattle.   

GAMLIEL INSTITUTE COURSES

Please Tell Anyone Who May Be Interested!

            Fall 2016:

Gamliel Institute Course 5, Chevrah Kadisha Ritual, Practices, & Liturgy (RPL) will be offered over twelve weeks from September 6^th, 2016 to November 22^nd 2016 online. There will be an orientation session on September 5^th for those unfamiliar with the online course platform used, and/or who have not used an online webinar/class presentation tool in past. Times will be 5-6:30 pm PDST/8-9:30 pm EDST on Tuesday evenings.

The focus of this course is on Jewish practices and all ritual and liturgy (excluding Taharah & Shmirah, which are covered in Course 2). This deals specifically with ritual and practice towards and at the end of life, the moment of death, preparation for the funeral, the funeral, rituals of mourning, and remembrance. This course also includes modules dealing with Funeral Homes and Cemeteries.

SIGN UP NOW TO TAKE THIS COURSE!

There is no prerequisite for this course; you are welcome to take it with no prior knowledge or experience, though interest in the topic is important. Please register, note it on your calendar, and plan to attend the online sessions. Note that there are registration discounts available for three or more persons from the same organization, and for clergy and students. There are also some scholarship funds available on a ‘need’ basis. Contact us (information below) with any questions.

You can “>jewish-funerals.org/gamreg. A full description of all of the courses is there as well. For more information, visit the “>Kavod v’Nichum website or on the

Please contact us for information or assistance. info@jewish-funerals.org or j.blair@jewish-funerals.org, or call 410-733-3700, or 925-272-8563.