When a Jew Dies: The Ethnography of a Bereaved Son [Hardcover]

Samuel C. Heilman (Author), Samuel Heilman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0520219651 | ISBN-13: 978-0520219656 | Edition: 1

Samuel Heilman's eloquent account of the traditional customs that are put into practice when a Jewish person dies provides both an informative anthropological perspective on Jewish rites of mourning and a moving chronicle of the loss of his own father. This unique narrative crosses and recrosses the boundary between the academic and the religious, the personal and the general, reflecting Heilman's changing roles as social scientist, bereaved son, and observant Jew. Not only describing but explaining the cultural meaning behind Jewish practices and traditions, this extraordinary book shows what is particular and what is universal about Jewish experiences of death, bereavement, mourning, and their aftermath.
Heilman describes the many phases of death: the moment between life and death, the transitional period when the dead have not yet been laid to rest, the preparation of the body (tahara), the Jewish funeral, the early seven-day period of mourning (shivah), the nearly twelve months during which the kaddish is recited, and the annual commemorations of bereavement. The richly informative ethnography that surrounds Heilman's personal account deepens our understanding of the customs and traditions that inform the Jewish cultural response to death.
When a Jew Dies concludes by revealing the rhythm that lies beneath the Jewish experience with death. It finds that however much death has thrown life into disequilibrium, the Jewish response is to follow a precisely timed series of steps during which the dead are sent on their way and the living are reintegrated into the group and into life. Filled with absorbing detail and insightful interpretations that draw from social science as well as Jewish sources, this book offers new insight into one of the most profound and often difficult situations that almost everyone must face.
Cover illustration by Max Ferguson

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"For Jews, time alone does not heal; life with people does," posits Heilman, a sociologist at the City University of New York. The Jewish rituals of death and mourning, he says, "demonstrate that however much death has thrown life into disequilibrium, the Jewish response is to bring that life back to some equilibrium in a precisely timed set of steps." As the only child of Holocaust survivors, Heilman struggled all his life with a legacy of death. Five years ago, when his father died, Heilman was forced to confront death "not as... the object of an anthropologist's curiosity. Death became my father." His book crosses back and forth among personal, academic, religious and collective boundaries. Structured in two voices of the bereaved son and the social scientist the intimate, poignant narrative describing his experiences around his father's death contrasts with an objective, academic exploration of the whys and hows of traditional practices that help the mourner master the encounter with death. He concludes that the role of community in repairing morale and ensuring personal and collective continuity is paramount: "For Jews in death no less than in life, solitariness is replaced by solidarity." Heilman recognizes that his traditional approach may not resonate with everyone in today's pluralistic society, but the rhythms of death and mourning he describes reflect enough of the universal to appeal to many seeking understanding and solace.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

When his father, a Holocaust survivor, died in 1996 after a long illness and a series of strokes, Heilman (Defenders of the Faith; Jewish studies, CUNY) followed the traditional rituals of Jewish mourning, from gosess and petira (for near death and the end of life) to leveiya (the funeral and its accompaniments) to yahrzeit (anniversary of a death) and finally to the perpetual remembrance of beit olam and yizkor. As he did so, he not only analyzed these traditions from a sociocultural perspective but also looked deeply into his own personal experiences and emotions (presented in boxed inserts in the text). He concludes, "However much death has thrown life into disequilibrium, the Jewish response is to bring that life back to some equilibrium in a precisely timed series of steps, during which the dead are sent on their way and the living are reintegrated into the group and the world they inhabit." Although voluminous notes are given, there is no bibliography, which would have been helpful to general readers, students, and scholars alike. Nevertheless, When a Jew Dies is a moving and enlightening contribution to the literature of the Jewish way of death, dying, and mourning. Recommended for public, academic, and professional library collections. Marcia Welsh, formerly of the Guilford Free Lib., CT
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 271 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (May 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520219651
• ISBN-13: 978-0520219656
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,309,245 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Samuel C. Heilman holds the Harold Proshansky Chair in Jewish Studies at the Graduate Center and is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Queens College of the City University of New York. His book, The Gate Behind the Wall was honored with the Present Tense Magazine Literary Award for the best book of 1984 in the "Religious Thought" category. A Walker in Jerusalem received the National Jewish Book Award for 1987 and Defenders of the Faith was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award for 1992. Portrait of American Jewry: The Last Half of the 20th Century was honored with the 1996 [first] Gratz College Tuttleman Library Centennial Award. When a Jew Dies won both the Koret Award in 2003 and the National Jewish Book Award in 2004. Heilman is also recipient of fellowships from the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, and the Mellon Foundation. He received a Distinguished Faculty Award from the City University of New York in 1985 and 1987. He is listed in Who's Who in the East, Contemporary Authors and Who's Who in World Jewry.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comfort & Enlightenment, October 16, 2001

By 

Ron Potemkin (Kansas City, MO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: When a Jew Dies: The Ethnography of a Bereaved Son (Hardcover)

Prof. Heilman's book was the comfort of a wise friend when I needed it most, just after I lost my sister to cancer. As a Jew, I wanted to seek solace in my faith after this devastating loss - but, having grown up essentially unaffiliated, I did not quite know where to turn, nor what it all meant. The Jewish rituals of mourning, burial, kaddish - all were largely foreign to me. I was very fortunate to be given Prof. Heilman's book as a gift from a dear friend, and it became my guidebook through what was, for me, new and frighteningly uncharted territory. "When a Jew Dies" provides an explication of Jewish law and custom on death that is understandable to a layman, but textured enough to be of great use to an academic as well. But what I found most warming of all was Heilman's moving account of his own struggle to cope with the death of his father, after a long and nightmarish battle with the effects of a debilitating stroke. Anyone who has suffered a similar loss will find this book an invaluable companion.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Combination of the personal and the analytic, March 5, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: When a Jew Dies: The Ethnography of a Bereaved Son (Hardcover)

This is a sensitively written book that combines the analytic view of what death, bereavement and mourning mean to Jewish tradition along with the author's personal experience with the encounter with death. For those who want to know not only what tradition demands but what the underlying sociological, psychological and anthropological meaning behind those traditions is as well as how this all affects those who practice the tradition, this book will be a useful guide. It will take you inside -- deep inside -- what happens when a Jew dies.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Teaches one how to deal with death and bereavement, March 9, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: When a Jew Dies: The Ethnography of a Bereaved Son (Paperback)

This book offers a clear understanding of how Jews deal with death, bereavement and mourning. It provides the reasons behind the customs, the social and cultural meanings that support them and a personal statement by the author. It neatly blends the objective and the subjective yet without blurring the view from each -- a remarkable accomplishment. Best of the Jewish mourning books available.