Death Rituals: Creating Jewish Life

Posted on 10/05/2016 by Rivkah Lambert Adler in Beliefs and Practices

Jamie Sarche is a self-described “evangelist for Jewish funeral and mourning tradition.” In this under 15-minute ELI Talk, Jamie says, “I feel like I’m fulfilling my life’s mission by bringing these 5000 year old traditions into our present day community. I continue with this mission because I’ve seen people in pain and I know these rituals can help.”

Jamie speaks about how “Jewish tradition offers us the guideposts on the path of bereavement. It allows us to feel our experience, even though it’s painful.” She educates her listeners about why Jewish death customs have much less to do with the deceased and are mostly designed to meet the needs of mourners. She explains rituals such as tahara, shiva and shloshim in accessible language and she emphasizes how Jewish funeral and mourning rituals can be helpful even to Jewish families, be they close-knit or fractured, who are not otherwise living an observant life.

ELI Talks are best described as Jewish TED Talks. ELI stands for Jewish religious engagement (E), Jewish literacy (L), and Jewish identity (I). According to their website, "ELI talks are highly produced, 12-minute presentations on 'inspired Jewish ideas.' The talks explore the central themes of Jewish literacy, religious engagement and identity, presented in light of their presenter’s own work, personal experiences, or Jewish or secular texts."

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