Is this a hypothetical situation or is someone in limbo?
--
How would you recommend a non-Jewish funeral home proceed under the following circumstances?--
• · The funeral home has received a meit;
• · The family and the meit are Jewish;
• · The meit, before dying, and the family have requested that tahara be done;
• · The funeral home is unable to find a chevra kaddisha that can perform the tahara; and
• · The funeral home has all the supplies to perform a tahara and an instruction manual.
The extremes of what the non-Jewish funeral home staff might do seem to be:
• · Do what they would do in the case of a non-Jew. That is, clean the meit, dress it in street clothes and casket the meit.
• · Do the physical motions of a tahara without any of the liturgy. That is, wash the meit, rinse and dry the meit, dress the meit properly in tachrichim, place the meit in the casket, place a passul tallit around its shoulders, wrap it in the sovev, put shards over the eyes and mouth, sprinkle Israeli earth in the aron, and put on the lid.
In addition to commenting on the actions that should be taken, we would be interested in knowing why you chose either extreme or some middle position in relation to the concepts of K’vod haMet, Nichum Avelim, and community values about treatment of a meit. Feel free to draw outside the box on this.
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While I agree that the funeral home could follow the instructions to do the tahara, I do not think that there use of our liturgy would be appropriate, but if they could fine one Jewish person who is willing to read the prayers, even in English, that would certainly make a difference in my opinion. Rabbi Stuart Kelman taught me that you do a tahara at any cost and whenever possible and I do believe he is absoutely right! At least that is what my 100 year old + Chevra Kadisha practices in the New Orleans area.
Sandy LassenExecutive DirectorShir Chadash Conservative Synagogue3737 W. Esplanade Ave. NMetairie, La 70002
On Sun, Jul 27, 2014 at 12:56 PM, H. Wulf wrote:
Sandy,
Thank you for your comment. Please clarify one thing to make sure I understand you correctly: are you advocating the position that K'vod haMeit means that, as a last resort, the non-Jewish funeral home staff do as complete a tahara as possible, including the liturgy?
Henry
On Sunday, July 27, 2014 12:39:21 AM UTC-4, sa...@shirchadash.nocoxmail.com wrote: You NEVER refuse the possibility of doing a tahara; that is my opinion. If ou are able to give that meit an opportunity to go to their final resting place by performing the tahara, you do it. NO questions asked and you do as much if not all of the liturgy you can; that is our purpose.
Sandy LassenExecutive DirectorShir Chadash Conservative Synagogue3737 W. Esplanade Ave. NMetairie, La 70002
On Fri, Jul 25, 2014 at 3:30 PM, H. Wulf wrote:
How would you recommend a non-Jewish funeral home proceed under the following circumstances?
• · The funeral home has received a meit;
• · The family and the meit are Jewish;
• · The meit, before dying, and the family have requested that tahara be done;
• · The funeral home is unable to find a chevra kaddisha that can perform the tahara; and
• · The funeral home has all the supplies to perform a tahara and an instruction manual.
The extremes of what the non-Jewish funeral home staff might do seem to be:
• · Do what they would do in the case of a non-Jew. That is, clean the meit, dress it in street clothes and casket the meit.
• · Do the physical motions of a tahara without any of the liturgy. That is, wash the meit, rinse and dry the meit, dress the meit properly in tachrichim, place the meit in the casket, place a passul tallit around its shoulders, wrap it in the sovev, put shards over the eyes and mouth, sprinkle Israeli earth in the aron, and put on the lid.
In addition to commenting on the actions that should be taken, we would be interested in knowing why you chose either extreme or some middle position in relation to the concepts of K’vod haMet, Nichum Avelim, and community values about treatment of a meit. Feel free to draw outside the box on this.
--You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "jewish-funerals" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to jewish-funerals+unsubscribe@ googlegroups.com.