Why to pre-plan a service

Rabbi Ronald Weiss

Director, Chaplaincy Services at Jewish Family and Child Services

Transcription:

While it’s always helpful to have one’s own mortality in mind, we live with the illusion that we’re going to live forever. And no one focuses on their death. Preplanning is great because it shows that the individual is not always focused on their needs, but it’s a way of taking care of your children. It’s a way of alleviating the burden of the finances and the technical details of what it is you want from someone else who might have to be guessing. It’s very difficult to talk about your death and your funeral arrangements and what you want with your children. They don’t want to hear it because it’s too painful. So preplanning is a way of taking care of your children, and they can know with certainty that the arrangements that are being made and the location of the grave and what type of the format of the funeral that they want is in fact what will transpire. And if the individual can prepay the expenses, that’s an enormous burden that they would be sparing their children, who in the midst of the psychological, the spiritual, and the emotional turmoil of the moment of death and trying to figure out, you know, where did Daddy put his papers? Let alone what does Daddy want? What would Dad have wanted in these circumstances if there weren’t clear instructions? It’s just easier. It’s much, much easier. And it shows a way of, again, you’re taking care of your loved ones.

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What to do when a death occurs
Traditions when someone dies
The importance of burial
The importance of burying in a Jewish cemetery
What happens at a funeral
Where to host a service
Selecting a funeral home
Jewish Beliefs in End of Life
Supporting a mourner
Kavod HaMet & Tahara
Shiva
Saying Kadish
Yizkor
Lessons from COVID
How to select a monument
Visiting a cemetery
Why to pre-plan a service

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