THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, September 9, 1983 109
Reflecting on High Holy Days: Matter of Life and Death
By DR. IRVING
GREENBERG
National Jewish
Resource Center
NEW YORK — Judaism
is a religion of life — against
death. According to classic
Jewish teaching, the world
is grounded in God, an infi-
nite source of life energy
and goodness. Therefore,
life itself will grow and de-
velop until it it totally per-
fected.
The very fact of death is a
Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year
MRS. ZAL AARON
& SON CHARLES
May the coming
year be filled
with health and
happiness for
all our family
and friends
ELEANOR & DAVID RISEMAN
denial of dignity, value and
perfection. It is a "con-
tradiction" to God who is
pure life. Therefore, in the
final end, death will be
abolished ("He will swallow
up death in eternity" —
Isaiah 25:8). Classically,
Judaism insists that when
the Messiah comes, all those
who have died will come to
life again. Resurrection of
the dead will totally nullify
death retroactively.
Normally, Judaism treats
death as the enemy. All
laws of the Torah — except
three — may be set aside to
save a life from death.
Death is set up as the nega-
tive pole of contact with
God.
The human -corpse was
considered the- most in-
tense archetype of ritual
impurity. No burials were
allowed inside Jerus-
lalem, the Holy City.
People who came in con-
tact with the dead were
'span nai\1 mu'?
to all
our friends
and relatives
DORA KANER & FAMILY
May the coming
May the coming
year be filled
year be filled
with health and
with- health and
happiness for
happiness for
all our family
all our family
and friends
and friends
HAROLD & DOROTHY HABER
MARSHA & DAVID WEIN,
-ERIC, TRICIA & MARLA
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
MOISHE & MOLLY LEVIN
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
IRVING, DOREEN, LORI & SHELLY LICHTMAN
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
NATHAN, SONIA & CAROL NOTHMAN
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
SIDNEY & SHIRLEY RICER & FAMILY
RABBI GREENBERG
not allowed to enter the
Holy Temple without
going through an elabo-
rate purification rite —
including immersion in a
body of living water, i.e.,
a symbolic rebirth from
the grip of death.
Death- is the opposite of
God because God is all life.
When death strikes person-
ally, the tradition
prescribes acceptance,
showing love through per-
sonal, caring treatment of
the corpse and expression of
grief and loss — for the im-
mediate relatives. Other-
wise, it is almost as if death
is to be quarantined as a
dangerous antagonist.
Priests who were consec,
rated to full-time service of
God were not allowed to
have any contact with the
dead. Priests were prohib-
ited from entering a
graveyard or attending fun-
erals — except for those of
their closest -of relatives
where denial of attendance
would be "inhuman." It is
almost as if God (Pure life)
is God, and Death (Anti-life)
is Death, and never the
twain shall meet.
The classic exception to
this arm's-length treatment
of death is the period of the
High Holy Days. On Rosh
Hashana and Yom Kippur
the tradition deliberately
concentrates our attention
on death. From the New
Year to the Day of Atone-
ment 10 days later, the Jew
is taught to focus on the
vulnerability of life.
Human beings cannot
be mature until they
encompass the sense of
their own death. The ter-
rible sense of shortness of
human existence gives
urgency and significance
to the totality of life.
Sometimes, we experi-
ence this gift of deeper
life after an accident, crit-
ical illness, or the death
of someone close. Too of-
ten, the effect fades as the
presence of death re-
cedes and the round of
normal life becomes
routine again.
The Days of Awe
structure the imaginative
encounter with death into
an annual experience in the
hope that it will not be lost
but will recur to liberate life
continually. Unlike all the
other Jewish holidays,
neither Rosh Hashana nor
Yom Kippur is linked to
remembrance of liberation
or the commemoration of
catastrophe. This is the
time for the individual to
concentrate on mortality
and the meaning of.life.
The encounter with non-
existence is set off by the
awareness of creation.
Whatever is born, dies. By,
tradition, Rosh Hashana is
the birthday of the world,
the anniversary of creation.
Then, too, the image of
being on trial for one's life
which dominates this pericid
jolts us into heightened
awareness.
"Who shall live and who
shall die?" This question
poses the deeper issue: if our
life ended now, would it
have been worthwhile? Are
we grateful for the miracle
of our daily existence?
The trial image cap-
tures the sense of our life
being in someone else's
hands. The shofar of
Rosh Hashana proclaims
that the Judge before
whom there is no evasion
or hiding is now sitting on
the bench. Sharpened
self-awareness, candid
self-judgment and guilt
flow from the possibility
that a death sentence
may be handed down at
the end.
The climax comes in liv-
ing out "death" on Yom
Kippur. On this day, tradi-
tional Jews put on a kittel, a
white robe also worn when
one is buried. The life proc-
esses of eating, -drinking,
washing and sexuality are
stopped for 24 hours. Guilt
(in the form of confession)
and encounter with the
dead (in Yizkor memorial
prayers) and the final trial
judgment dominate the day.
This intense focus on
death could turn morbid or
nihilistic. Romans ex-
hibited a skull at orgies and
cried, "Eat, drink and be
merry for tomorrow we die!"
But Judaism's encounter
with death is in the service
of life. Catharsis and recon-
ciliation emerge on Yom
Kippur as love and fore-
giveness come into play.
"For I do not desire the
death of the sinner," cries
the Lord, "but that he turn
from his way and live!"
The liturgy bursts with
life. "Remember us for life,
King who loves life; write us
in the book of life, for your
sake, Lord of Life." The
people of Israel comes out of
Yom Kippur reborn. Forgi-
ven and pure, at one with its
God and its way, it renews
life with vigor and love.
To know how fragile
the shell of life is, is to
learn to handle it with
true grace and delicacy.
Only one who realizes the
vulnerability of loved
Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year
MR. & MRS. HOWARD CRAIG
nal\I mv?
our friends
and relatives
DEBBIE, HOWARD &
SHAYNA WEINSTEIN
MR. & MRS. SIDNEY STOISKY
May the coming
year be filled
with health and
all our family
and friends
THE LEITSON FAMILY
SIDNEY & SHELIA, JEFF & TONA,
MARC & NANCY & ALLAN
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
ERWIN & BERTHA FRIEDMAN & FAMILY
Lauderdale Lakes, Fla.
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
ANTAL, HERMINE GRUBER & FAMILY
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
ELSIE & MAX JAFFE
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
MR. & MRS. LOWS LEVINSON & FAMILY
BUDAPEST — The
Jewish community's new
kitchen, financed by the
American Jewish Joint Dis-
tribution Committee, pre-
pares 1,000 kosher meals
each day for seven canteens
and the home-bound el-
derly.
Approximately 700 of the
1,000 meals are served free
of charge.
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
SAM & TILLIE MYERS
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
Telephone Wait
"They delude the people,
crying 'Peace, peace' when
there is no peace."
—Jeremiah
Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year
happiness for
to all
Budapest Kitchen
JERUSALEM — There
are just 32 telephones for
every 100 persons in Israel
(compared to 75 per 100 in
America and 40 per 100 in
Great Britain and West
Germany).
Israel has 1.35 million
phones on 900,000 lines and
the price to install a tele-
phone in Israel rose last
year from $85 to $300.
ones can treasure every
moment with them.
"The unexamined life is
not worth living," said Soc-
rates. The examined life is
very worth living is the
message of the High Holy
Days.
FREDA & HAROLD PODOLSKY
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
SYLVIA, DAVE & SUSIE SCHANE
,
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
RAYMOND, ARLENE & IDA ZIMBERG
.