Deathbed Wisdom of the Hasidic Masters

Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow, Rabbi Joel H Baron

Description

The first-ever English translation of and commentary on The Book of Departure, which compiles the end-of-life stories of 42 holy men, sheds light on Jewish traditions about death, the afterlife and how to care for people in their final days. Modern insights drawn from these stories help caregivers make greater meaning out of end-of-life care.

Sujets

• Rituals
• Philosophie et théologie
• Jewish Currents (magazine)
• Judaism
• Hasidic Judaism
• Religion
• Practice

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 18 mai 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781580238649
• Langue: English

Extrait

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Deathbed Wisdom of the Hasidic Masters:
The Book of Departure and Caring for People at the End of Life
2016 First Digital Edition
2016 by Joel H Baron and Sara Paasche-Orlow
Foreword 2016 by Arthur Green
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or reprinted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information regarding permission to reprint material from this book, please write or fax your request to Jewish Lights Publishing, Permissions Department, at the address / fax number listed below, or email your request to [e-mail] .
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Mintz, Binyamin, author. | Baron, Joel H., 1943- translator, writer of added commentary. | Paasche-Orlow, Sara, 1967- translator, writer of added commentary. | Mintz, Binyamin. Sefer ha-histalkut. English.
Title: Deathbed wisdom of the Hasidic masters : the Book of departure and caring for people at the end of life / translation and annotation by Rabbi Joel H. Baron and Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow ; foreword by Arthur Green.
Description: Woodstock, VT : Jewish Lights Publishing, a division of LongHill Partners, Inc., [2016] | 2016 | Originally published under the title Sefer ha-histalkut in Tel Aviv in 1929 or 1930. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016013095| ISBN 9781580238502 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781580238649
(ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Rabbis-Biography. | Hasidim-Biography.
Classification: LCC BM750 .M4413 2016 | DDC 296.8/3320922-dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016013095
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Manufactured in the United States of America
Cover Design: Tim Holtz
Cover Art: Brasiliao/Shutterstock
Interior Design: Tim Holtz
For People of All Faiths, All Backgrounds
Published by Jewish Lights Publishing
A Division of LongHill Partners, Inc.
Sunset Farm Offices, Route 4, P.O. Box 237
Woodstock, VT 05091
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To my beloved, Phyllis, for your love, your limitless support, and your wisdom.

A woman like you, who shall find
-J. B.
To my life partner, Michael,
who from the first time we met
was unafraid of death.
-S. P. O.
Contents
Foreword
Introduction
What Is Hasidism?
What Is a Tzaddik ?
The Afterlife
The Roles of Men and Women in Hasidism
The Structure of This Book
The Stories
Navigating This Book
Jewish End-of-Life Practices
In Conclusion
The Book of Departure
Introduction to The Book of Departure
The Ari-Isaac ben Solomon Luria Ashkenazi
The Ba al Shem Tov
R. Yechiel Michel of Zlotshov
R. DovBaer of Mezritch
R. Elimelech of Lizhensk
R. Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk
R. Nachman of Breslov
R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi
R. DovBaer, Son of the Ba al haTanya
R. Aaron of Staroselye
R. Menachem Mendel of Riminov
R. Israel (ben Perez) of Polotzk
The Seer of Lublin
R. Eliezer haLevi Horowitz
R. Peretz of Przysucha
R. Simcha Bunim of Przysucha
R. Avraham Yehoshua Heschel, the Apter
R. Rafael of Bershad
The Angel of Strelisk
R. Zusha of Plotzk
R. Naftali of Ropshitz
R. Eliezer of Dzhikov
R. Meir, Son of R. Eliezer of Dzhikov
R. Naftali Chaim, Son of R. Meirel of Dzhikov
R. Avraham of Olinov
R. Zev of Zhitomir
R. Aaron of Zhitomir
R. Tzvi Hirsch of Zhiditchov
R. Yitzchak Isaac of Zhiditchov
R. Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov
R. Yuda Tzvi of Razleh
R. Israel of Ruzhin
R. David Moshe of Tchortkov
R. Shalom of Belz
R. Shmuelke of Sasov
R. Yechiel Michal of Glina
R. Menachem Mendel of Kotzk
R. Yitzchak Meir, Master of the Chidushei haRim
R. Shlomo, the Kohen of Radomsk
R. Avrahamli of Sochaczow
R. Yekutiel Yehudah, Master of the Yitav Lev
R. Yitzchak Yoel of Kantikuziva
R. Gershon Chanoch Henech of Radzin
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Appendix: The Characteristics of Active Dying
Notes
Glossary
Suggestions for Further Reading
Index of Rabbis in The Book of Departure
Insight Sparks
Body and Soul
The Angel of Death
Coping with Dementia
Clinging to God
The End of Desire
Cemeteries
The Timing of Death
Dying on an Auspicious Day
The Language of Death
Depression and Sadness
Confession/ Vidui
Ethical Wills and Advance Directives
Purity
Meditation
Liminality
Unification
Blessing the Children
Kindness
Talking with God

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Foreword
A RTHUR G REEN
Torah means teaching. All of Torah is a course we take on the subject of how to live our lives. We sign up for that course in childhood, before we even understand why we need it, or what its subject matter is all about. Most of us ignore its wisdom much of the time, coming back to it only when life especially hurts or puzzles us. If we re very lucky, we turn back to it also in moments when we feel particularly blessed or filled with light. These moments, too, need the explanation we derive from Torah.
The Hasidic masters taught us that Torah exists not only in books but also in people. There are great souls in the world, scattered through every generation, who can teach us Torah by the way they live. We watch them and learn, edified by just being in their presence. Sometimes we are taught simply by the way they look at us, talk to us, listen to what we have to say. Some such people are rebbes or teachers to a whole community or even to the entire world. But others are teachers just to a particular person, perhaps someone they deeply love, or just in a particular moment, when the learner s heart is open to receive their truth.
Most of Torah s teaching is about how to live. But there is a special section within its wisdom that also speaks to us about how to die. Since we are all mortals, our lives fashioned somehow around the awareness that death is inevitably to come, this is one of the important lessons. We moderns are often too busy to heed it, or so frightened of turning toward it that we make ourselves too busy. But our tradition, ever since our ancestor Jacob s deathbed blessing to his grandchildren at the end of the book of Genesis, calls us to pay attention. There is something profound to be learned about the way of dying, and it is best learned from the wisdom and stories of those who have gone before us.
Hasidic lore contains much of this wisdom. Its tales are studded with insights about death as well as life, all tied together in a single whole. Hasidism is a deeply life-embracing strand within the fabric of Judaism. It teaches that this world, every moment and corner of it, is given to us as a setting for the uplifting of divine sparks, for the joyous service of God and celebration of the divine presence. The moments approaching death, even that of death itself, are a vital part of that service.
Some eighty-five years ago, a young immigrant to the Holy Land named Benjamin Mintz went through many volumes of Hasidic tales and teaching to collect the deathbed moments recorded here. He published them in Hebrew, in a modest volume with only bare explanatory notes. More than eighty years later, my student Rabbi Joel H Baron and his colleague Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow rediscovered this work and decided to translate it into English. As rabbis specializing in end-of-life care, they brought to it much wisdom of their own, tremendously enriching these tales with introductions and comments that bring the best of current practice together with these inspiring tales from another age.
What you have before you is a little gem of wisdom, simple but heart-touching deathbed tales from the Hasidic tradition, surrounded by thoughtful and inspiring reflections by contemporary practitioners. Whether you are a fellow practitioner in end-of-life care, the child or loved one of someone facing death, or just another mortal human seeking a bit of guidance and wisdom about the most eternal of questions, you have fallen into good and loving hands.
Introduction
R. Mordecai of Chernobyl asked him, And where did you learn that you could bring about salvation through storytelling? The saintly Rebbe of Ruzhin replied, From our holy Torah!
-Reuven Zak, Kenesset Yisrael
W e are rabbis and chaplains who work with seniors living with health challenges, and we deal with death and dying-every day. Every one of our hospice patients is expected to die within six months; some, within days or hours. We care for Jews as well as people of all religious and nonreligious backgrounds, the very old and the young old, those whose lives are rich with family and friends, and those who leave the world with no one there. How do we do what chaplains do-accompany those we serve-and come to that work from within a framework of meaning? We have learned a great deal about how to do this from Jewish and Christian colleagues, and from our patients, slowly coming to understand more about this time of life-and, indeed, it is a time of life . It will conclude with death, but it can be a time that holds and upholds a meaningful life in the context of that one individual and also among family, friends, and community.
In Abraham Joshua Heschel s great work Torah min haShamayim ( Heavenly Torah ), he studies the stories in the Mishnah, Talmud, and Midrash-as opposed to the more complex and traditionally studied legal material-as a way of gaining understanding about