Customer Reviews

The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I checked this book out from the library to use it as a resource for a religion class. I couldn't stop reading it. Having just lost my grandmother and participated at her funeral sevice, I was very interested in learning about Jewish funeral customs. This book was just the ticket. It is very well written, easy to read (it is broken down into many subsections) and understand (even for the non-Jew), fascinating (if you are not familiar with the Jewish customs), and the section entitled "What is Death?" is extremey profound. I loved his style and his use of words. I plan to purchase it to keep in my library. (It helped me get an A on the report and in the class!)

The book is very comprehensive on the specific part of the subject discussed: American, Ashkenazi laws and customs. However, it doesn't deal with the laws and customs elsewhere (e.g., Israel) and ignores Sephardi Jewish customs. Highly recommended if you only want to know about the Ashkenazi Jewish laws and customs in North America.

I turned to this book when my father died. I found it to be a comprehensive and indispensable guide. I still take it with me whenever I visit the cemetary so that I can use its text for graveside prayers.

This book provided all the answers I needed.

It was factual, clearly-written, easily-referenced, religiously-balanced, logical and, overall, very useful.

My father had just died and I was given this book by his synagogue. As I spent the week sitting shivah with my family I read through it. It was comforting, informative and very very helpful. I think it would be helpful not only to Jewish mourners but to anyone who has lost a loved one.

This is a very detailed guide to the traditional aspects of Jewish observances of Death and Mouring. It is a must for every Jew -- Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, or un-affiliated! My only suggestion is to my fellow readers -- buy it and read it now! Do not wait until you need it's great advice.

This is the best guide on ' Jewish Death and Mourning' I know. It is clearly written. It presents the Halachic aspects of the process in a good way. It shows sympathy and understanding. It will answer most if not all of the procedural questions the person has who is in the process of mourning.
It is the standard work , and rightly so.

This is a truly encyclopedic guide (at least from the perspective from someone who, like me, knew almost nothing about the subject before reading the book) to Jewish mourning practices. Brief summary: if a parent dies, be prepared to take a week off from everything, and don't shave. Try to avoid most forms of public entertainment for a year. (Whether these are realistic expectations for most readers, I can't say). If another relative dies, the restrictions are less severe.

Lamm also briefly summarizes the Jewish depiction of the afterlife. In his own words: [there is] historic near-unanimity of [Jewish] scholarly opinion on the fundamental belief [in the afterlife but] the practical details of immortality are ambiguous and vague. There is no formal eschatology in Judaism, only a traditional consensus that illuminates the way. . . God revives the righteous dead, while the wicked remain in the dust."

Lamm goes back and forth between justifying the halacha and neutrally describing it; I found his justifications persuasive in some instances, perhaps a bit overly aggressive at other times.

This book is tremendously informative about every possible question you could have about the Jewish laws and customs about death and mourning. It is well written and it's easy to look up questions you have. It's nicely broken down in chronological order from the end of life until the yearly yahrzeit observance.

It is, however, from the modern orthodox perspective. As a recent mourner, it made me feel guilty that my reform family was not observing all the minute details of mourning that occur. It's strength, tho, is that you know all the details and can observe what you can. And you now know what the ideal might be.

The paradox of course is that one is not likely to purchase or read it until some of the stages of mourning have passed. But it is comforting to read about the stages and their meaning even if they have passed. Plus it leaves you well informed should a death occur in the future, a likelihood for all of us mortals.

A good resource for what to do for those who have recently lost someone.

Also a good resource for the bereaved for what to do and who to turn to.

It gives you the proper actions to take to respect the one lost and the ones that are bereaved.

It gives the Jewish point of view and an explanation of it and all the things that are done as part of the rituals and procedures involved with a death.