Jewish Burial


Now, for a little lesson on burials:  From the time a person passes away until their body is interned, the family members, who are responsible to bring their loved one to his or her final resting place, have a weird status of no mans land.  On the one hand, they aren't yet "mourners," as that status starts after burial, and don't have the regular restrictions of mourners.  On the other hand, they are exempt from all mitzvahs, including blessings, studying Torah, putting on tefillin etc. until the deceased is buried.


The reason is:  when you are the one responsible for burying someone, nothing else in the world exists!  You shouldn't be distracted with anything else, even things that are very important.  The one and only thing on your mind should be burying this person, and everything else should be put on hold until the job is done. 

When someone passes away without any money or family, everyone in the city become like family (after all, we are all related) and have this status.  The mitzvah to bury the dead is because we are instructed to emulate G-d.  Just as G-d visited the sick (Abraham, after his circumsicion), we should visit the sick.  Just as G-d buried the dead (Moses), we should bury the dead. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pesach, Seder & My Reflections

Image
Over the past few weeks, I’ve come to a new realization:  I love my job as a shliach. Property development has been (and still is) very exciting.  I really enjoy the adventure of it, and the satisfaction of seeing a vision come true. But it is very consuming from many angles.   And I know that all this construction has taken away from my ability to serve the community (hopefully we’re still keeping up, if not being as proactive as I’d like). This past week it’s become very clear to me that this construction project is a means to an end, and the end is a home for the Jewish community of Temecula.  This campus will give the community the infrastructure to grow, and serve everyone with the right tools. I can’t wait to reach the finish line, so we can get back to putting all our focus where it should be, namely on the community. (It’s interesting to note that a few weeks ago I heard a story about Rabbi Rubin, the shliach to Albany, NY.  In his first years on the job, he would send detailed
Read more

A Happy & Kosher Pesach

Image
Tonight we’ll eat matzah, read the Hagaddah and tell the story of the slavery & exodus from Egypt. We will read, “In every single generation they rise up to destroy us, but G-d saves us from their hands.” I grew up in generation that said “never again”.  It was peaceful, and while I heard stories from my friends parents and grandparents of antisemitism & the Holocaust, I never experienced it myself. It was as if antisemitism was a thing of the past and people became sophisticated enough to move on.   For the past seven months, this line in the Hagaddah has kept popping into my head.  No amounts of marches, monuments, lectures and rallies will rid the world of antisemitism until Moshiach comes.  I’ve come to trust in G-d & the Torah, not the promises of politicians and secularism. On other hand, just because antisemitism isn’t disappearing so fast, it’s not a reason to worry. The second half of the sentence clarifies that while in every generation until Moshiach comes, they
Read more

Pesach Preparations

Image
Pesach is less than 3 weeks away!  As I mentioned a couple weeks ago in my email, Purim is a “partial redemption” (even after the plot of Haman was foiled and the anti-Semites were dealt a blow, we still remained in the Persian exile).   Pesach, however, is a complete redemption.  G-d send Moses to tell the Pharaoh to let us go. The Torah records the “hostage negotiation” between G-d and Moses.  At first Pharaoh didn’t want to let anyone go.  After G-d smote Egypt with a few plagues, Pharaohs hardline position started cracking.  He said, “I’ll let the men go, but not the women.  I’ll let the women go, but not the children.  I’ll let the children go, but not the animals.”   Moses responded, “With our young, with our old, with our sheep and with our cattle.”  Pesach is a complete redemption.  No one will be left behind.  We will go to Mr. Sinai to receive the Torah, and from there continue to Israel & build a temple for G-d. Complete redemptions take more preparation.  Indeed, we’re
Read more