“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die” (Eccles. iii. 1, 2). Life is a precious gift the Creator has given us; while there is breath in our nostrils we thank Him for it, we pray to Him for its prolongation, do everything in our power to preserve it, and consider its wilful destruction a criminal act. But notwithstanding all this “there is a time to die.” Life and death are equally mysteries to us; we trust in the mercy of Him who has ordained life and death, that both are for our good. Death is, therefore, not to be regarded with dread and horror; it is the transition to another state of life, the real nature of which is unknown to us. But it is our belief that the future life (העולם הבא) is infinitely superior to the present life (העולם הזה); hence the saying in the Midrash that the words “exceedingly good” (Gen. i. 31) applied to death. The only fear of death that can reasonably be justified is the fear of departing from this life before we have completed our task, before we have sufficiently [[490]]strengthened “the breaches of the house” caused by our own dereliction of duty. Our Sages advise, “Return one day before thy death” (Aboth ii. 15); that is, every day, the day of death being concealed from our knowledge. In this manner we constantly prepare ourselves for death without curtailing our enjoyment of life. “Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity” (Eccles. xi. 9, 10). When passion overcomes us and evil inclinations invite us to sin, we are told by our Sages to remember the day of death, which may suddenly surprise us before we have been able by repentance to purify ourselves from our transgressions (Babyl. Talm., Berachoth 5a).
When death approaches, and announces itself through man’s illness, we do everything that human knowledge and skill can suggest to preserve and prolong the earthly life with which God has endowed us; in addition, the patient himself and his friends invoke the mercy of God for his recovery.[176] Even when death appears invincible, when “the edge of the sword touches already man’s neck, we do not relinquish our hope in God’s mercy, and continue to pray to the All-merciful.” The patient is asked to [[491]]prepare himself for the solemn moment, although it may in reality be as yet far off.[177] The preparation consists of prayer, meditation, confession of sin, repentance, and of the profession of our Creed, especially of the Unity of God, in the words, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.”[178] To visit the sick, to comfort them by kind words and deeds, to pray with and for the patient, are acts included in the duty of “visiting the sick” (בקור הולים).[179] In the moment of death those present testify their faith in God by proclaiming the Dominion, the Omnipotence, and the Unity of God in the same way in which we make this declaration at the conclusion of the Day of Atonement. Although Prayer-books contain certain forms of prayer for this purpose, the patient and those present should rather follow the impulse of their heart, and commune with the Almighty in any form their heart suggests.
When life has come to an end friends and relatives give free expression to their grief;[180] to check it by comforting words at this moment is useless (Aboth iv. 18). The mourners,[181] father, mother, son, daughter, brother, and sister, have now to direct all their attention [[492]]to the deceased relative, in order that nothing be neglected in the last honours shown to him; they are therefore free from all other religious obligations till after the burial. In Palestine and neighbouring countries, where, in consequence of the higher temperature, decomposition of the body begins soon after death, the burial takes place on the same day.[182] In colder climates two or three days elapse between death and burial. The mourners abstain during the interval from wine and meat.
Every act of piety in honour of the deceased is a meritorious religious act, a mitsvah, an act of kindness and truth (חסד ואמת), and in every congregation there exists a society, called חברא קרישא “holy society,” whose members devote themselves to the fulfilment of these pious duties.
According to the principle that death equalises all, that “the small and great are there” (Job iii. 19), the greatest simplicity and equality is observed in all matters connected with the obsequies[183] of the dead. Friends and relatives follow to the burial-ground; the הלוית המת, or attending the dead to their last resting-place,[184] [[493]]is one of those mitsvoth “the fruits of which a man enjoys in this world, while the stock remains for him for the world to come.”
Burying the dead is a very old custom, to which the Jews adhered firmly at all ages. The custom of the Greeks, who burnt their dead, found no advocates among the Jews. In the Written and the Oral Law only the burying of the dead is mentioned. To leave a human body unburied and unattended was considered by Jews, as by other nations, an insult to the deceased person, and whoever found such a body was bound to take charge of it and to effect its burial.[185]
In the Burial Service we acknowledge the justice of God, and resign ourselves to the Will of the Almighty (צדוק הדין). When the burial is over our attention is directed to the living; words of comfort are addressed to the mourners[186] who return home and keep שבעה “seven days of mourning.” A certain degree of mourning is then continued till the end of [[494]]the year by the children of the deceased, and till the end of the month (שלשים “thirty days”) by other relatives.[187]
Our regard for the deceased (יקרא דשכבי) and our sympathies with the mourners (יקרא דחיי) are expressed in different ways.
The funeral oration (הספד) occasionally spoken at the grave, or in the house of mourning, or in the Synagogue, generally combines both elements; it contains a eulogy upon the deceased and words of sympathy and exhortation for the living.
The special prayers offered up on such occasions likewise include these two elements: petitions for the well-being of the soul of the deceased, that it may find Divine mercy when appearing before the Supreme Judge, and petitions for the comfort and relief of the mourners. The Kaddish of the Mourners, however, does not contain such prayers, but merely expresses their resignation to the Will of the Almighty, their conviction that He is the only Being that is to be worshipped, and that He alone will be worshipped by all mankind in the days of Messiah, and their wish that the arrival of those days may be hastened.