When the deadliest attack against the American Jewish community in history struck the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday morning, 30 members of the community knew they needed to get to the crime scene immediately. These 15 men and 15 women were not rushing to the scene as police or paramedics. They are…
One victim murdered and one who remains in the hospital following Saturday’s mass shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh were members of the chevra kadisha, an organization of Jewish men and women called upon to ensure that deceased Jewish bodies are properly prepared to be buried. Jerry Rabinowitz died in the rampage and Dan Leger…
A new nondenominational Jewish burial society has replaced an Orthodox one at a Boston-area Jewish funeral home. Community Hevra Kadisha of Greater Boston, which launched this fall and is part of a growing movement of Jewish burial societies that include non-Orthodox volunteers, began performing tahara – the ritual preparation of bodies for burial – at…
(JTA) — When his cousin died unexpectedly a few years ago, Hal Miller-Jacobs was recruited to oversee the funeral arrangements and wound up helping with the tahara — the traditional preparation of the body for burial. For the first time in his life, the 76-year-old computer professional joined with other volunteers in carefully washing, cleaning…
The annual meeting of the Jewish death care radicals is no place for a funeral director. That became clear just after lunch on the second full day of the North American Chevra Kadisha and Jewish Cemetery Conference, when an attorney named Efrem Grail unloaded on the coffin hawkers. “This is about a protected profession which…
‘Doing Jewish” is a nice little catch phrase, but it doesn’t begin to cover the stunningly diverse ways in which America’s Jews in fact go about the doing of Jewish. The words call to people’s minds, say, the activities of the Anti-Defamation League or of their own local synagogue or Jewish community center, perhaps their…
Going to one of Israel’s cemeteries at this time of year is quite an experience. Around the chagim, many people visit the graves of dead forebears. Yet Israel’s cemeteries are commonly large and sprawling and people paying their respects often struggle to find the grave they are looking for. On any given day, in any…
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