Transcription:
One of the greatest miracles and gifts that we have down here in this world is to witness the transition where a soul comes into this world. To witness a birth is an open miracle and really it’s a gift. It’s an awesome moment of transition between a world of spirit and a world of matter and it’s a joyous moment. But we mustn’t forget that being there at the moment of transition where the soul leaves the material world and goes into the world of spirit back to where it came from is also a remarkable moment. It’s a painful moment this time because we don’t want to say goodbye but it’s a very sacred moment and therefore in Jewish tradition when someone is in the room witnessing that transition, A, they should know that it’s an awesome if you will transcendental moment and they should use that moment for something uplifting, something sacred and soulful. Prior to one’s passing one has the tradition of doing vidui which are final prayers. Family members could call a clergy or rabbi to do that on their behalf if they’d like but if family members or someone is in the room when their loved one is taking their last breaths and the soul transitions from this world to the next it’s our tradition to say the Shema Yisrael prayer as a statement of faith. The awesomeness of that moment as painful as it is it could be likened in some respect to the cycle of witnessing the soul come into this world now we witness the soul leave this world. Having an opportunity to reflect on one’s life is a really central piece. It’s an impactful piece. We actually do it every day as the sun sets we sit on our beds we say the Shema. It’s called Kriyat Shema Sha’al Hamita. We don’t just say the Shema but we reflect. One should look back on the day and say how did I do? How could I be better for tomorrow? People have the tradition to do so on Thursday nights the last night of the week before Shabbat and many have traditions it’s brought down and historically in Jewish texts that the eve Erev Rosh Chodesh the eve before the new month people would take that as a serious day of reflection to look back at a month and to see how they could do. Of course Rosh Hashanah allows us to do it on an annual basis but when you talk about evaluating, reflecting, asking forgiveness, making statements that are critical to our life such as the statement of faith that is critical to be done before one’s passing. Obviously not everybody knows when their time is and even when we have the opportunity and the doctors indicate that certain things may be approaching sometimes it’s hard to know exactly when those final prayers, statements of faith, an oath to G-d’s oneness, a testament to the 13 principles of faith that Jewish practice has are really hard to know and that’s why people should reach out to their clergy to a rabbi to a friend that may have gone through this to ask when is that right time to do it or to ask a rabbi to come in and do it on their behalf if they feel that they can’t do it or they’re incapacitated but it’s a really critical thing to be done for the soul’s behalf as it nears its end in the journey down here in this world. So many have the tradition that at the final walk between the hearse and the final resting place the rabbi leads the pallbearers through this walk and they will stop seven times. The rabbi will recite Psalm 91 which is Yoshev Beseter Elyon and in the middle there’s a verse there which has seven words and he’ll stop there and each time state one of those words and then start again and come back and go into the second and third and so on. That verse states that G-d guards us and his angels guard us in all our ways. It’s as if we’re making a statement that we don’t want to rush this process. It’s the hardest walk. It’s the longest walk. Seven in Judaism is a cycle. There’s seven days of the week so it’s as if we’re making a statement that we want to do a full cycle of this walk. We don’t want to rush it. It’s hard to part with a loved one but at the same time we make a statement that G-d and his angels are guarding us in this final walk. So the Yahrzeit or Azkarah as some call it is the anniversary of passing of one’s loved one and it states that on the day of one’s passing everything that they’ve accomplished in this world gathers together and is elevated and that becomes the wings to uplift the soul to a higher level if you will, to a deeper level, to a greater level. Each and every year the soul continues to grow. The soul never ceases to exist the Kabbalah teaches us. The soul never ceases to grow through our acts of kindness, through our acts of kindling a flame which reminds us of the marriage of the soul and the body that happened for a period of time as well as our capability to be able to uplift the soul as King David says the soul eternally grows from strength to strength each and every year. When we engage with the soul at that time and learn and pray and recite the Kaddish and give tzedakah on that day it helps the soul’s continual impact up above but also its connection to us down here. If anyone’s been to a Jewish funeral home they may have noticed that there is some people that walk into what’s called a Kohen room it’s specifically designated for the priests and they don’t go under the same roof as someone who’s passed away a general population would go on to. The reason why is because historically the Kohens, the Kohanim, the priests were designated to be the sacred and pure and spiritual leaders of the Jewish people. They served in the Temple and they at all times had to be pure they didn’t come in contact with impurity. If they did they had to go to a ritual process a mikvah and so on and so forth. Today we don’t necessarily have those laws intact because we don’t have a Temple. That being said the tradition of the Kohens abiding to those laws in the event when G-d gifts us another temple the tradition became and the code of Jewish law stipulates that the Kohens should not go into a cemetery or into a funeral home under a roof where there is impurity. So Kaddish and Yizkor were instituted by our rabbis as a form of remembering our loved ones and also praising G-d on behalf of our loved ones and it’s to be done in a quorum which means in a congregation in a synagogue. It should not be recited alone there are other prayers one could say alone there are other acts that people can do alone but it would be counterintuitive to recite those as an individual. If one is not affiliated with a synagogue there are numerous shuls and synagogues and rabbis that could direct you where and how one could go and recite the prayers. No synagogue would turn away a Jew from wanting to remember their loved one and if you know a friend that has a rabbi or congregation if you don’t have your own don’t be ashamed to reach out to ask and to walk into a synagogue and say that you want to be connected to remember your loved ones nobody would be turned away.