Clergy Blog

Shabbat Shalom,

You may not be familiar with the Hebrew terminology, but you are likely aware that kavod hamet, honoring the deceased, is a mitzvah more important than almost any other. The laws that dictate how to care for the dead are layered with detail and meaning, from the moment of death itself to the moment of burial.

When death does come, it is treated as the final sacred stage of our earthly journeys. Death represents the soul’s ascent home, a state of purity inaccessible to the living.

Our rituals focus deeply on the purity of the deceased and are careful not to desecrate the body or the soul. A dead body is ritually washed with a continuous flow of water three times, as the chevra kadisha (the holy group of individuals tasked with preparing a body for burial) says three times: you are pure. The deceased is dressed in all white while texts referencing the clothing of the high priests are chanted. Exclusively in death, we become as holy as our ancestors who served God at the Temple in Jerusalem. 

At the burial itself, we are meant to each take a bit of earth to bury our beloved by hand. Often the most wrenching part of Jewish funerary rites, it is also one of the most intentional, as the deceased is tucked into their eternal resting place by their closest circles.

Whether you are intimately aware of these rituals or not, you have likely experienced how Judaism centers respect and dignity at the end of life. 

The callous images coming from Gaza this past week were an affront to our practice and way of life. As Jewish communities around the world watched the public parading of these bodies, adults and children alike, a primal scream tore through our collective hearts. I simply want to honor that this was a hard week for the Jewish people. Our tradition teaches that every child born into this world represents hope. It was painful to see hope extinguished, for a moment, in real time. 

Every time we confront the horrors of this long war, disparate voices rise up to tell us how we should react or respond. I invite you this Shabbat, as much as you are able, to ignore the noise. Remember that we are a people committed to dignity in life and in death. This Shabbat let’s just be together, pray together, mourn together, and welcome in the sacred, to quote L’cha Dodi, “In joy and gladness.”

Shabbat Shalom,
Max

Dispatches from TBA:

Services this evening begin at 6:30pm.

Parashat Study tomorrow morning begins at 9:00am

Shabbat Morning services follow at 10:00am. Mazal tov to Raquel Becker and her family as she becomes a bat mitzvah!

Rabbi Vaisberg’s upcoming Melton Class:

Have you ever wanted to know how to have a nourishing, rejuvenating, and deeply meaningful experience, using the prayers of the Jewish tradition? There are times where we see the words in the siddur and hear the beautiful melodies and yet are not sure what to do with them! And, there is a vast array of ways of having mindful, spiritual experiences in Judaism to which most us have not yet been introduced. Well, it’s time for that to change. Join Rabbi Vaisberg for this spring’s Melton course, Pray it Forward: God, Gratitude, and Gathering Together, and learn how to get the most out of Judaism’s amazing spiritual offerings. 

For more information and registration instructions, please go to this link https://www.tbanj.org/event/melton-class-with-rabbi-vaisberg.html to register!