>> Torah portion • 4.' i c \ i • A \ Heartland Value Your Life! Health Care Center Comprehensive skilled nursing and rehabilitation services Parshat Chukat: Numbers 19:1-22:1; Judges 11:1-11:33. Experience Makes a Difference. n this week's action-packed por- time ever encountering a dead body. I tion, Chukat, we learn about the began to understand why the body has ritual of the Red Heifer (moo!) often been referred to as a vessel for and the rules associated with purifying the soul. oneself after coming into contact with All too often, we feel invincible. a dead body. We ride bicycles without helmets, Also, Miriam dies, and Moses and drive cars without seatbelts, drink to Aaron learn that they won't be per- the point of stupidity and fail to take mitted to enter the Promised Land simple, yet lifesaving, precautions. because Moses strikes rather We take risks, some- than speaks to a rock that times calculated, but in the moment, often only think then produces water for the people. about how our decisions In addition, Aaron dies, impact us, rather than how the people mourn his death our decisions impact those (but not Miriam's), snakes around us. You may be attack (not on a plane), a willing to take the risk of — couple of battles are fought riding a bicycle without a with enemies, and there are helmet — but are you will- a couple of intense poems. ing to take that risk if you Rabbi Daniel The prevalent theme in also factor in the impact S. Ho rwitz the portion is death and its that a closed head injury or accompanying rituals. premature death would have on your family and friends? We have all attended a funeral at some point in our lives. But how often This Shabbat, reflect on the pre- do we think about what has gone on ciousness of life. behind the scenes to ritually prepare a Recognize your own mortality, embrace the accompanying humility, Jewish body for burial? Perhaps with a little more clarity and knowledge, we and strive to make your time count. would have the ability to re-evaluate as Know that once you are gone, others a community the honor we accord our here will take care of your body and deceased and internalize the sanctity mourn for you, and that giving them with which we are taught to treat the the chance to do so is part of their human body. development as human beings. In return, while you are here, com- Our tradition shares that to prepare a body for burial is a mitzvah — par- mit to caring for the bodies of others, ticularly because you know when com- taking reasonable precautions to pre- pleting the task that the individual is serve your own health and safety, and incapable of somehow "repaying" you to understand that your actions rarely, in this world for your actions. if ever, impact only you. Recently, I had the experience of Daniel S. Horwitz is the rabbi and director preparing a body for Jewish ritual of immersive learning for Moishe House burial as a member of a chevra kad- disha (Jewish burial society — literally International and is the rabbinic adviser for Michigan State University Hillel. "holy society"). Four of us cleaned the body of the deceased elderly gentle- man, ritually purified it, dressed it in white linens, and laid it in a plain Conversations wooden casket, wrapped in a prayer • What actions can I take to bet- shawl (tallit), as is tradition. Dirt from Israel was sprinkled inside ter recognize the fragility of life? • Who were those who selflessly the casket, and pottery shards were prepared my own loved ones for placed over the eyes and mouth of burial, and what were their moti- the deceased (our tradition speaks of vations? humans as having come from the dust • How can I give back to oth- of the Earth and as being molded from ers, without the expectation of clay). thanks, while I am here? Needless to say, this was a different kind of experience. 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