While not everyone is jumping on the \’I gotta be me\’ funeral bandwagon, a funny thing is happening on the way to the mortuary. When it comes to thinking about the end of life, be it in the business of funeral homes or in the minds of Jews everywhere, the world is changing.
A 42-year-old Apache pilot, Zvika rose to the rank of colonel in the Israeli Air Force. He was, according to his peers, \”professional and talented,\” and he did his job with diligence and dedication. Since he had enlisted in the air force at the age of 18, he was due to retire in a year.
Now Moshe is gone too. As I entered the graveyard, I saw his mother. I started to mumble my condolences when this old woman, a survivor of Auschwitz, gave me a stern look.
\”Spare your words,\” she said dryly. \”It\’s between me and God.\”
What could I possibly say to this woman, who had lost all her family in the Holocaust, who married another Holocaust survivor, started a new chapter in Israel and gave birth to two sons — only to lose them as well as her husband, who died heartbroken after Issachar was killed?
How often do we let feuds linger on believing that we have so much more time left on this earth?
One could call \”Who Killed Woody Allen?\” a \”benign revenge comedy.\” Co-authors Tom Dunn, Dan Callahan and Brendan Connor wrote the whodunit after Allen allegedly withdrew the rights to his play, \”Death,\” from their theater company in 2001.
Mourners filled the seats and crowded into the back room of Sholom Memorial Park on Sunday, Nov. 17, to lay to rest Jewish Defense League (JDL) leader Irving David Rubin, but the funeral did not lay to rest the questions surrounding the controversial activist\’s death or the 11 months he spent in federal prison awaiting trial.
It\’s the ultimate fantasy: You have a seat at your own funeral. Now imagine that while hovering in limbo between your death and burial, you have the power not only to witness the preparations and critique the eulogies, but also to eavesdrop on critical moments in your past for a reality check.
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