Жизнь и вечность. Вопросы смерти, траура и дней памяти в традиции иудаизма

This book presents the Jewish view of life and death. It offers guidance from the moment of death through the funeral service, burial and various periods of mourning. Includes information about Kaddish and Yizkor.

“Death is a critical moment in a person's life, and how one views death greatly determines one's understanding of life itself. Because there is a Jewish way of life, there is also a Jewish view of death.

As a rule, people do not want to know anything about death as long as it seems to them to be far away. When they feel it approaching, they no longer have time to study the religious approach to it.

Most people do not seek to study the Jewish tradition associated with the problems of death. People are reluctant to consider these problems and tend to avoid discussing the issues that the death of a relative raises in the family. We are, as they say, mortally afraid of death, and therefore we prefer to get acquainted with the rituals of mourning only when it becomes inevitable.

But the critical moment will come. And what is the guarantee that we will cope with it adequately if, instead of figuring everything out in advance, we begin to put off painful thoughts for later? And if we do not know everything that is necessary to know, will a person who lived his life as a Jew be buried as a Jew should be buried? Will we inevitably conform to the rules set by commercial funeral companies rather than act in accordance with the teachings of our spiritual guides? Will it turn out that the funeral of a Jew will resemble the funeral of a Christian? What then remains Jewish of the traditional Jewish understanding of death? And if we discard the Jewish tradition on the issue of death, then what Jewish will remain from the Jewish understanding of life?