Jewish Funeral

Last week, Kevin and I had the privilege of attending a funeral in honor of his boss/ friend's mother. Both of us had never been to a Jewish funeral service before. We had tons of questions about protocol, but were (well, I was at least) excited about the opportunity to learn more. We hoped that our presence would be an encouragement to our friend, and we hoped that we could honor the loss in respectful ways for the family.

The service began with several responsive readings from the Psalm from a prayer book designed for funerals. We heard several eulogies by family members that were moving. The rabbi read some scripture and then the processional out of the room began. As the rabbis processed out alongside the pallbearers, they sang in Hebrew. The whole service was over in about 45 minutes which is around the same length of a Christian service (at least the ones in my tradition).

What impressed me the most about this encounter was the person we were their to honor. The deceased lived into her 80s. She had grown up in Europe during the war and escaped with her family as a teenager to the United States to get away from Hitler's occupation of her country. In America, she was thankful for the gift of education and he went on to receive her doctorate (during the time when women didn't do this). She also become a wife, a mother of four, an artist, volunteer art teacher at Jewish summer camp and a beloved Holocaust Museum volunteer guide.

I felt encouraged by the witness of her life about what it means to live your life with gusto and love others deeply along the way. She showed through her life that women really can have it all with a lot of hard work and determination.

Being a part of a funeral celebration for someone I don't know was a not a new thing for me. I conduct a lot of funeral services for people I have never met. As part of this, I work with those who are seeking answers about the meaning of life. I struggle to answer questions about what truly constitutes a good life, especially as I don't have personal experience with an individual to contribute anything.

However, in this case, it was obvious to all that the woman had life a full and rich life. It was obvious that she had lived out her faith. It was obvious that she had found life's meaning in her family, friends and her God.

And in those moments of reflection after the service was over, I realized that this particular funeral was a great example of what theology of life in the Jewish tradition is all about. Life your life well in the here and now, knowing that your life touches others as you go. Knowing that if you life your life with this kind of intentionality others will be inspired, and also be able to leave the earth a better place than they found it too.

While death is such a sad time for family and friends left behind, I am for one, grateful that I got to share in the life remembrances with this family. From this experience, my Jewish sister inspired me to live in more loving ways. I still have the gift of life!