The purpose of this blog is to restore spirited conversation to the Shabbat table. Please print and share.
In honor of someone very special's birthday today.... Happy birthday, Mom!
And a big mazal tov to Shalev and Rocky on your wedding!
A Jew I know just lost his non-Jewish mother.
Unlike the Jewish custom of quick burial, this Catholic family will not have the funeral for several weeks.
First 2 questions for your table - Have you ever been to a wake? Do you know why they call it that?
(No, it isn't because they hope the deceased will wake up.)
Once upon a time, I attended one. It wasn't Catholic, as far as I recall. They just called it that. It was in a funeral home. The deceased was a young man - 18 years old - who had drowned while swimming with friends in a rural swimming hole.
It was incredibly sad. But seeing him there, embalmed with makeup to make him look like he was merely sleeping, somehow made it more painful, to me.
Next 2 questions: Why don't Jews do embalming? Why do we hurry to bury our dead?
We obviously love life, we don't love death.
But we don't ignore it. We even have a beracha to say upon the death of a loved one.
Question 5 for your table - Why don't we like to talk about it? Why does it make us so uncomfortable?
Some say that the answer is because we live in a culture that really does glorify the physical aspect of existence (the human body and its pleasures) and we have all been trained from a very young age to become deeply attached to that vitality.
Put it this way: the Olympics and Superbowl get a bit more attention than the World Chess Championship.
(Although it's always encouraging to see the media pay attention to the newest Nobel Prizes.)
Others point out that even spiritual people have trouble with death. They argue that we expect God to be good and loving and kind and taking a loved one away is painful and therefore unkind and that's a contradiction so we'd rather ignore it than grapple with the contradiction.
What say you?
According to the Talmud, there are 903 types of death.
(And if anyone cares, it even tells us which are the most and the least painful.)
Question 6 for your table - What would you say are the best and worst ways to die?
Question 7 - If the Talmud is going to talk about 903 ways to die, why doesn't it also tell us how many ways there are to live?
Shabbat Shalom
In honor of someone very special's birthday today.... Happy birthday, Mom!
And a big mazal tov to Shalev and Rocky on your wedding!
A Jew I know just lost his non-Jewish mother.Unlike the Jewish custom of quick burial, this Catholic family will not have the funeral for several weeks.
First 2 questions for your table - Have you ever been to a wake? Do you know why they call it that?
(No, it isn't because they hope the deceased will wake up.)
Once upon a time, I attended one. It wasn't Catholic, as far as I recall. They just called it that. It was in a funeral home. The deceased was a young man - 18 years old - who had drowned while swimming with friends in a rural swimming hole.
It was incredibly sad. But seeing him there, embalmed with makeup to make him look like he was merely sleeping, somehow made it more painful, to me.
Next 2 questions: Why don't Jews do embalming? Why do we hurry to bury our dead?
We obviously love life, we don't love death.
But we don't ignore it. We even have a beracha to say upon the death of a loved one.
Question 5 for your table - Why don't we like to talk about it? Why does it make us so uncomfortable?
Some say that the answer is because we live in a culture that really does glorify the physical aspect of existence (the human body and its pleasures) and we have all been trained from a very young age to become deeply attached to that vitality.
Put it this way: the Olympics and Superbowl get a bit more attention than the World Chess Championship.
(Although it's always encouraging to see the media pay attention to the newest Nobel Prizes.)
Others point out that even spiritual people have trouble with death. They argue that we expect God to be good and loving and kind and taking a loved one away is painful and therefore unkind and that's a contradiction so we'd rather ignore it than grapple with the contradiction.
What say you?
According to the Talmud, there are 903 types of death.
(And if anyone cares, it even tells us which are the most and the least painful.)
Question 6 for your table - What would you say are the best and worst ways to die?
Question 7 - If the Talmud is going to talk about 903 ways to die, why doesn't it also tell us how many ways there are to live?
Shabbat Shalom
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Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld PhD
Jewish Spiritual Literacy, Inc.
3700 Menlo Drive
Baltimore, MD 21215-3620
(410) 400-9820
To get free audio and other stuff, make a donation, or keep in touch - http://www.jsli.org
A 501(c)3 organization.
Jewish Spiritual Literacy, Inc.
3700 Menlo Drive
Baltimore, MD 21215-3620
(410) 400-9820
To get free audio and other stuff, make a donation, or keep in touch - http://www.jsli.org
A 501(c)3 organization.
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