Burial Criteria in Jewish Law Jews Still Live Undefeated
By JACQUES BASNAGE
perhaps two destinies in the
In
"The History of the Jews
life of every individual: the
From Jesus Christ to the
Rabbinic tradition requires real potential and the em-
Present Time"
that the dead be buried with pirical. The empirical des-
their palms open instead of tiny may lead one into great
In the declension and dregs
By RABBI SAMUEL J. FOX
(Copyright 1973, JTA, Inc.)
with clenched fists.
This tradition is based on
a statement in the Midrash
(Ecclesiates Rabba 5:21)
which claims that when a
man is born iris fists are
clenched as if to say that he
is going to grab everything
he can in this world.
Yet, when he dies his
hands are open to show that
he takes nothing with him
from this world. This is
based on a verse in the bibli-
cal book of Ecclesiates
(5:14) which claims that
IT1P^
"shall take away
n(
g for his labor."
great danger.
A change of name may be
the means of bringing this
potential destiny into focus
and avoiding the accidental
fate that seems to impend.
The mystics put it very sim-
ply by saying that the angel
of death receives an assign-
ment to bring in an indivi-
dual of a certain name.
Changing the name of the
individual defeats the assign-
ment of the angel of death.
There are criteria required
to establish the fact of death
in a human being according
to Jewish Law.
Some people change the
Rabbinic commentaries de-
name of a person who is rive a general principle in
critically ill.
establishing the occurence of
This tradition is based on
a statement in the Talmud
(Rosh Hashana 16b) which
claims that changing a per-
son's name is one of the
means of changing his des-
tiny.
Commentaries (e.g. Rashi,
Genesis 15:5) claim that a
change of name brings a
change of fate. Some derive
this from the instances in the
Bible where a change of
name did bring forth a new
dimension in the life of the
individual. (e.g. Abraham,
Sarah, Jacob).
death from the Talmud
(Yoma 85a) as being the
cessation of respiration.
Sources later add the ab-
sence of a heart beat as a
necessary but not absolutely
determining criteria (Hat-
ham Sofer, Yoreh De'ah,
Responsa 338) requiring both
pulse beat and heart beat to
be absent in order to estab-
lish the fact of death.
There has also been an
opinion that blood pressure
should be absent in order to
establish the death of the in-
dividual (Dr. Jacob Levy,
Some claim that there are
quoted in Asya, Shebat 5731).
Care must be taken as to
The Sims Puppet &
what is at issue in establish-
Magic Show
ing the fact of death, (e.g.
Ideal Choice for Children's
the permission to excise the
Birthdays and Organization
heart for transplant; the per-
affairs.
mission for burial; the pro-
hibition of a priest (kohen)
557-4692
from coming into contact
with the individual, the re-
sponsibility of the doctor and
J. J. CLARKE STUDIO
Portraiture of Distincttan:
the family to continue ef-
For Your Wedding
Formals - Condids - Direct Color
forts to revive the patient.
Some rabbinic authorities
require a minimum time to
3223 W. McNichols
Nr. MuirIone!
expire after the life signs
Call 341 4141
are missing before permit-
4 ing burial (at least a half-
hour).
Whatever the case may be,
Herbert Schnaar's
as long as there is some
Wife, Faye, keeps his
hope of reviving life, every
house—and keeps the
effort must be made to at-
Minutes for
tempt doing so. In specific
cases one should not adopt
a general rule but make a
too!
specific determination for
each individual.
-
HADASSAH
What's keeping you?
UNICEFF Income
BR 3-5441
DICK STEIN
presents
A complete musical
Dockage for your party.
• DICK STEIN
• Jeep Smith
• Eric Blewett
• Shelby Lee
• Patty Grant
r• Joel Johnson
• Mori Little
From One to Any
Number of Entertainers
Call us and
we will discuss
Your Entertainment Needs.
358-2777
"Music the Stein Way"
Ten cents will buy a bag
of potato chips — or the vac-
cine to protect 10 children
from smallpox . . . Income
from one box of UNICEF
Greeting Cards will prevent
five children from becoming
blind with trachoma . . . 30
boxes will pay for three
weeks of a teacher-training
course . . . A dollar collected
for UNICEF could buy a
stethoscope . . . $35 could
buy a year's supply of
supplementary drugs for a
mother and child health
center.
The world premiere produc-
tion of THE RECANTA-
TION OF GALILEO GALI-
L E I by internationally
known critic-playwright Eric
Bentley opens at the Bon-
stelle Theater, 3424 Wood-
ward, Oct. 19. It is produced
by the Wayne State Univer-
sity Theater, which operates
the playhouse made famous
in the 1920s by Jessie Bon-
stelle. Prior to becoming a
theater the building was the
house of worship of Temple
Beth El.
of ages, people have been
inflamed with a spirit of
cruelty and barbarity against
them (the Jews). They were
accused of being the cause
of all the calamities that
happened and charged with
a world of crimes, which
they never thought of. A vast
number of miracles were in-
vented in order to convict
them, or rather upon a pre-
tense of religion, to trample
upon and oppress them. We
have made a collection of
the laws, which the councils
and princes have published
against them, whereby a
judgment may be made of
the iniquity of the ones and
the oppression of the others.
People did not keep within
the bounds of the edicts
against them. For they were
frequently exposed every-
where to military execution,
popular commotions and
massacres. Yet by a miracle
of Providence, which ought
to astonish all Christians,
this nation, hated and per-
secuted in all places for so
many ages, still subsists in
all parts of the world . .
The bush of Moses, sur-
rounded by flames, has ever
burned without being con-
sumed. The Jews have been
driven out of all the cities of
the world and this has only
served to spread them
abroad in all cities. They
still live in spite of the con-
tempt and hatred which
follow them everywhere,
while the greatest mon-
archies have fallen and are
known to us only by name.
Friday, October 5, 1973-37
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Jewish People
Jewish Identification With History
By LUDWIG LEWISOHN
By MAURICE SAMUEL
In "The Professor and
the Fossil"
The endurance of the Jew-
ish people is a continuous
exertion of the will in the
face of adversity, of creative
ingenuity in the midst of
change.
We need not speak of the
courage it needed to die for
one's faith at the stake, or
to become for its sake a
wanderer in a hostile world.
More impressive in its way
was the ability to stand up
to the choreography and
decor of humiliation which
the Middle Ages added to
their economic and physical
maltreatment of the Jew:
the ghetto, the yellow badge,
the spitting ceremonials, the
insults, the naked foot-races,
the blood libels, the accusa-
tions of poisoning the wells.
Hundreds of thousands of
little people accepted the
verdict of an ever-renewed
malevolence without a
thought of purchasing secur-
ity and comfort by defection.
And escape was so easy, so
simple! The "racial" rejec-
tion of the Jew was unknown
in the -Middle Ages. It was
all a matter of belief. The
Churchmen were eager to
win souls; the conversion of
the Jews was an ideal; and
there were prelates of a gen-
uine Christian disposition
who, protecting the Jews in
times of popular bloodthirsti-
ness, made the offer of
Christianity in a spirit that
was particularly tempting.
The answer of the faithful
was No! The Jewish people
had a task to complete and
would not quit in the middle.
The American Jew who
has re-allied himself to his
people and its history, who
has identified himself with
the uniqueness of that peo-
ple's character and destiny,
will begin, if he has not yet
begun, to rebuild in pride
and joy for himself and his
children, the form of his life.
He will set his feet once more
upon the eternal road of Is-
rael's tragic but luminous
persistence in the world. For
this purpose he will perform
definite, concrete acts.
He will fasten a mezuza
on his door.
He will usher in the Sab-
bath, if only simply and halt-
ingly, if only with lit candles
and a kidush in English.
He will cease eating the
forbidden foods — s win es
flesh and shellfish.
He will say the blessings
over food and drink.
He will keep in his house
within easiest reach Jewish
books . . . These he will read
and ponder as the permanent
record and expression of his
people and therefore of him-
self.
He will read a passage of
the dawn-prayer in the morn-
ing and teach his children or
repeat with them the ex-
quisite last evening prayer
when slumber falls upon the
eyelids.
He will not separate him-
self from the congregation of
Israel but be active in his
synagogue.
He will find that these af-
firmative acts will give
meaning to what has hitherto
been meaningless. They will
identify him with that eternal
community which is his road
to mankind; they will reas-
sure him of his having been
created in the image of God;
they will lead him to those
universal affirmations c o n -
cerning God, freedom and
immortality, which alone ex-
plain man and the universe,
which alone keep man and
his history from dust and de-
feat.
JOE MILLER
I
d .
an
HIS ORCHISTRA
blink For All Occasions
115-1244
,
=Jr--.:11=Jr=ir-w- r=imr..1 1=J
.
m-
- ,...Jrzrar=r=4
Hello Friends:
NEMETH DRAPERIES
Is Doing Business As Before
We would like to hear from our old and new
friends — We have lots of new
beautiful fabrics and new ideas.
968-0030
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Byrdie & Joe Nemeth
=1 1=.1
. . 1=Jr—mli=1=J=.11r=ir=ar-_-ar=1.r-..
...Jr=1
Discourses From
Book of Proverbs
There are three things too
wonderful for me,
Four that I cannot under-
stand:
The way of a vulture in
the air,
The way of a serpent on
on a crag,
The way of a ship in the
heart of the sea,
And the way of a man with
a woman.
Under three things the
earth quakes,
Under four it cannot
bear up:
A slave when he becOmes
a king,
A fool when he is sated
with food,
An unpopular woman when
she is married,
And a maidservant when she
supplants her mistress.
There are four things on
earth that are small,
And yet exceedingly wise:
The ants—they are no
strong folk,
Yet they lay up their food
in thd summer;
The marmots—they are
no mighty folk,
Yet they make their home
in the crags;
The locusts—they have
no king,
Yet they march all
in ranks;
The lizard—she holds on
by her forefeet,
Yet she finds her way into
the king's palace.
Martin Lattin and Rosanne Agree
cordially invite you
to where it's happening
1
l • I
PLACE
,d atiipk e&ioli
D
Suffering of the Masses
The motivating force of the
Jewish national movement is
the real suffering of the
masses of the people which
originates in inevitable dis-
crimination.—Ben Borochov,
"On Zion and Territory,"
1905.
-±-1 WOW
LVENAIMI
•-*
i n6aditale€4/
PLACE
4 s ■ . , ,\
North Park Plaza Tower, Room 120
17117 W. Nine Mile Road
Southfield, Michigan 48075
(313) 559-6140
• A • NN.Atl
•
• '
• ,•••:s
•
,,,,
„