- Lev. (page 12)
- According to Professor Arthur Hertzberg, "The Talmud judges a community which does not protect the unfortunate as a 'castaway city,' an unworthy place that has removed itself from God." (page 12)
- (1) Sanger-Harris, originally Sanger Brothers Dry Goods and Department Store, started by Alexander and Philip Sanger
(2) Neiman-Marcus, founded by Herbert Marcus, a salesman for Sanger Brothers
(3) Titches, created by Edward Titche and Max Goettinger
(4) The Linz Building, Dallas' first skyscraper, built by jewelers Simon and Edward Linz
(page 32)
- They do not say, "I'll see you tomorrow" because no one owns tomorrow. They say, "I'll see you tomorrow, God willing," or "I'll see you tomorrow, but that is not a promise." This is the Jewish way of affirming that life is fragile and precarious, that each new day is not an entitlement but a precious gift to be savored. (page 37)
- This prayer to be said when dying no longer appears in many modern prayerbooks. It reads: "Dear God, I want to live. But if this is Your decree, then I accept it from Your hand. Take care of my loved ones, with whom my soul is bound. Into Your hand I commit my soul. Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One." (page 38)
- When the Temple stood in Jerusalem, mourners had a separate gate through which they entered and continued walking along a special Mourner's Path. As they walked, they came face to face with all the other members of the community, who greeted them with the blessing, "May the One who dwells in this place comfort you. May you find God--HaMakom--the Holy place of comfort." Those walking in the opposite direction, former mourners who had made it through, affirmed by their presence the possibility of healing. Looking into their experienced eyes, the mourners found comfort in the knowledge that one does not walk the mourner's path forever. The existence of the Mourner's Path confirmed that it is acceptable for those facing significant loss to be out of step with others and affirmed their status as a normal part of community life. Having their experience mirrored in this holy place kept mourners from feeling invisible, unsupported, or ashamed. According to Anne Brener, our task today is to reclaim the mourner's path for the Jewish community and remove the negative connotations associated with this universal life experience. (pages 41-42)
- Jacob Rader Marcus. The last two volumes of Marcus' work (The
American Jew, 1585-1990: A History and The Jew in the American World: A
Source Book) provide "a vast reasure trove of documentation and analysis
concerning the four-hundred-year-long Jewish encounter with North
America," says RJ literary editor Steven Schnur. page 57.
- Jewish tradition does not look with favor upon euthanasia, the act of "mercy killing" performed either at the patient's behest or out of our own sense of compassion. "The dying person," we are taught, "is like a living person in all respects." Though lying in a moribund state, with death imminent, he or she remains a human being created in the image of God; whoever hastens the death of a dying person, no matter how well-meaning the reason, "has committed bloodshed." These prohibitions flow from Judaism's affirmation that human life ultimately belongs to God, Who has the final say in its disposal. Our tradition does require, however, that we undertake measures to relieve a dying person's pain. We may administer powerful doses of anti-pain medication, provided that our intention is to relieve pain and not hasten death. This is permitted even if the medication has the unintended effect of shortening the patient's life, because the treatment of pain is itself a proper medical objective. (pages 64 & 65)
- King David. Called the "sweet singer of Israel," he was a major contributor to the Hebrew Bible's Book of Psalms, the most famous collection of lyrical religious poetry. (page 67)
- Because the world was made in seven days, and each person is a world that never was before and never will be again. So our tradition tells us: stop whatever you are doing, take notice, mourn for the full seven days, and thereby affirm the sanctity of life. (page 40)
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