A Time of Mourning

“In remembrance is the secret of redemp3on.”

~ Ba’al Shem Tov, 18th century, Ukraine

הנה מה־טוב ומה־נעים שבת אחים גם־יחד:Hinei mah tov umah nayim, shevet achim gam yachad.

Behold, how good it is when brothers and sisters dwell together. (Psalm 133:1)

Portrait Painters of the Soul ~ Joshua Loth Liebman

Judaism is the religion of life which makes no cult out of death, which seeks no private salva3on from the grave, which accepts with confidence and trust both the miracle of birth and the mystery of death. Our faith does not close its eyes to tragedy and does not deny that we human beings shall never possess the everlas3ngness of stone the silent perduring quality of the mountain peak, but we have other giKs, conscious minds, aspiring hearts, far-visioned souls. Our faith tells us that God has given to each human being the ability to paint a portrait large or small, beau3ful or ugly, radiant or blooming, and our faith summons us to become a portrait painter of a soul-landscape that shall be worthy to be hung in any art gallery of the spirit. Judaism proclaims that God has arranged our journey so that in years brief or many we can find love, joy and the fruits of fulfillment, par3al and rela3ve though they be, and that when our day is finished, we should accept its final note with the same calm trust that we greet the skylark’s song at sunrise.

Psalm 23 ~ The Lord is My Shepherd

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the s3ll waters. He restoreth my soul; He guideth me in straight paths for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou hast anointed my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

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David Bruce Freedman דוד בן אברהם שלמה ורייזל שושנה

David ben Avraham Shlomo v’Raizel Shoshana 1 December 1956 / 27 Kislev 5717

(b. Philadelphia, PA) 3 September 2021 / 26 Elul 5781

(d. Winston-Salem, NC)

Death Cannot Be the End of Life ~ Milton Steinberg

Death cannot be and is not the end of life. Man transcends death in many altogether naturalis3c fashions. He may be immortal biologically, through his children, in thought through the survival of his memory; in influence, by virtue of the con3nuance of his personality as a force among those who come aKer him, and, ideally, through his iden3fica3on with the 3meless things of the spirit. When Judaism speaks of immortality it has in mind all these. But its primary meaning is that man contains something independent of the flesh and surviving it; his consciousness and moral capacity; his essen3al personality; a soul.

Here for each other - Albert Einstein

Strange is our situa3on here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet some3mes seeming to divine a purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that we are here for the sake of each other, above all, for those upon whose smile and well- being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many 3mes a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of others, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received and am s3ll receiving.

A Gme for healing - Sandy Ragins

Mourning is the price we pay for having the courage to love others. Even in grief, we know that the wonder of human life is too complex, and too magnificent, to be memorialized only in endless pain. The giKs of spirit our loved ones gave us cannot be measured or weighed, nor can they be lost or even tarnished by 3me. Even in our darkest hours, we know that some of their light and their warmth will always be with us, bringing comfort and courage, and – in the fullness of 3me – healing and peace.

From Psalm 121

אשא עיני אל־ההרים מאין יבא עזרי: עזרי מעם יהוה עשה שמים וארץ:Esa einai, el heh-harim may-ayin yavo ezri. Ezri meim Adonai oseh shamayim va’aretz.

I liB up mine eyes unto the mountains, from whence does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth.

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Ecclesiastes 3 ~ A Gme for every longing beneath the heavens ...

For every 3me, and season to every longing beneath the heavens, there is: A 3me to give birth and a 3me to die. A 3me to plant and 3me to uproot what is planted. A 3me to kill and a 3me to heal; a 3me to break apart and a 3me to build. A 3me to cry and a 3me to laugh; a 3me of lamen3ng and a 3me of dancing. A 3me to cast away stones and a 3me of gathering stones; a 3me to embrace and a 3me to refrain from embracing. A 3me to seek and a 3me to lose; a 3me to keep and a 3me to let go. A 3me to tear and a 3me to sew; a 3me to keep silence and a 3me to speak.

A man in his life ~ Yehuda Amichai

A man doesn't have 3me in his life to have 3me for everything. He doesn't have seasons enough to have a season for every purpose. Ecclesiastes was wrong about that.

A man needs to love and to hate at the same moment, to laugh and cry with the same eyes, with the same hands to throw stones and to gather them, to make love in war and war in love. And to hate and forgive and remember and forget, to arrange and confuse, to eat and to digest what history takes years and years to do.

A man doesn't have 3me. When he loses he seeks, when he finds he forgets, when he forgets he loves, when he loves he begins to forget.

And his soul is seasoned, his soul is very professional. Only his body remains forever an amateur. It tries and it misses, gets muddled, doesn't learn a thing, drunk and blind in its pleasures and its pains.

He will die as figs die in autumn, Shriveled and full of himself and sweet, the leaves growing dry on the ground, the bare branches poin3ng to the place where there's 3me for everything.

** A Gme for speaking and a Gme for silence **

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El Malei Rachamim ~ God full of Compassion

אל מלא רחמים שוכן במרומים. המצא מנוחה נכונה תחת כנפי השכינה עם קדושים וטהורים כזהר הרקיע מזהירים את נשמת דוד בן אברהם שלמה ורייזל שושנה שהל

לעולמו. בעל הרחמים יסתירהו בסתר כנפיו לעולמים. ויצרור בצרור החיים את נשמתו. יי הוא נחלתו: וינוח בשלום על משכבו. ונאמר: אמן:

O God full of compassion, Eternal Spirit of the Universe, grant perfect rest under the wings of Your Presence to our loved one, David Bruce Freedman, David ben Avraham Shlomo v’Raizel Shoshana who has entered eternity. Master of Mercy, let him find refuge forever in the shadow of Your wings, and let his soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life. The Eternal God is his inheritance. May he rest in peace, and let us say: Amen.

The TradiGon of the Kaddish ~ Leopold Kompert

The origins of the Kaddish are mysterious; angels are said to have brought it down from heaven … It possesses wonderful power. Truly, if there is any bond strong enough to chain heaven to earth it is this prayer. It keeps the living together, and forms a bridge to the mysterious realm of the dead. One might almost say that this prayer is the … guardian of the people by whom alone it is uoered; therein lies the warrant of its con3nuance. Can a people disappear and be annihilated so long as a child remembers its parents?

Because this prayer does not acknowledge death, but it permits the blossom, which as fallen from the tree of humankind, to flower and develop again in the human heart, therefore it possesses sanc3fying power.

Kaddish Yatom - Mourner’s Kaddish

יתגדל ויתקדש שמה רבא. בעלמא די ברא כרעותה, וימלי מלכותה בחייכון וביומיכון ובחיי

דכל בית ישראל. בעגלא ובזמן קריב ואמרו אמן:

Yitgadal v’yitkadash sh’mei raba b’alma di-v’ra chi-rutei, v’yam-lich mal-chu-tei b’cha-yei-chon u-v’yo-mei-chon u-vcha- yei d’chol beitYis-raeil, ba-a-ga-la u-vi- z’man ka-riv, vi-m’ru: amein.

יהא שמה רבא מבר לעלם ולעלמי עלמיא:

Y’hei sh’mei ra-ba m’va-rach l’a-lam u-l’al-mei al-ma-ya.

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יתבר וישתבח, ויתפאר ויתרומם ויתנשא ויתהדר ויתעלה ויתהלל

שמה דקדשא ברי הוא לעלא מן כל ברכתא ושירתא, תשבחתא ונחמתא,

דאמירן בעלמא, ואמרו אמן:

Yit-ba-rach v’yish-ta-bach, v’yit-pa-ar v’yit-ro-mam v’yit-na-sei, v’yit-ha-dar v’yit-a-leh v’yit-ha-lal sh’mei d’kud-sha, b’rich hu, l’eilah, min kol bir-cha-ta v’shi- ra-ta, tush-b’cha-ta v’neh-cheh-ma-ta da- a-mi-ran bal-ma, v’i-m’ru: amein.

יהא שלמא רבא מן שמיא וחיים עלינו ועל כל ישראל, ואמרו אמן:

עשה שלום במרומיו הוא יעשה שלום עלינו ועל כל ישראל, ואמרו אמן:

Ye’hei sh’lama rabah min sh’maya v’chayim aleinu v’al kol yisraeil, v’im’ru: amein.

Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya’ah-seh shalom aleinu, v’al kol yisraeil, v’im’ru: amein.

May the name of God be made great and sancMfied, throughout the world, which God has willfully created. May God’s rule be established in your lifeMme and in your days, and in the lifeMme of the enMre household of Israel, swiBly and in the near future; and say, Amen. May God’s great name be blessed, forever and ever. Blessed, praised, glorified, exalted, extolled, honored, elevated, and lauded be the Name of the Holy One, Blessed is God - above and beyond any blessings and hymns, praises and consolaMons which are uUered in the world; and say: Amen. May there be abundant peace from Heaven, and life, upon us and upon all Israel; and say, Amen. May the One who makes peace in the heavens above make peace for us, for all Israel, and let us say: Amen.

Mourning ~ Harold Schulweis

What is leK to be done aKer the dying is over?

… there is no final closure in death. Life and death are locked in embrace, So in3mately intertwined that the "Keriah" of the cloth cannot tear them apart. Something important remains intact. When dying is over, a different kind of memory takes over. Not the memory that is obituary.

Not the memory that records the past indiscriminately. But an ac3ve memory that siKs through the ashes of the past to retrieve isolated moments and that give heart to the future. That memory is an act of resurrec3on It raises up from oblivion the glories of forgooen years.

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Even the memories of failure, the recollec3ons of frustra3on and regret are precious. Broken memories are like the tablets Moses shaoered, placed lovingly in the holy Ark of remembrance. Memories are saved, those immaterial, disembodied ghosts that endure. What is life aKer death? Pointers, signs, marking places that raise us up to life and give us a changed heart. Perhaps a life lived differently, beoer, wiser, stronger than before. What is leK aKer death? The life of the survivor.

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May the memories of our loved ones inspire us To seek in our lives those quali3es of mind and heart Which we recall with special gra3tude. May we help to bring closer to fulfillment Their highest ideals and noblest strivings. May the memories of our loved ones deepen our loyalty To that which cannot die --

Our faith, our love, and devo3on to our heritage.

As we ponder life’s transience and frailty, Help us, O God, to use each precious moment wisely, To fill each day with the compassion and kindness Which you have placed within our reach. Thus will the memories of our loved ones abide among us As a source of undying inspira3on and enduring blessing.

יהי זכרו ברוMay the memory of David Freedman be for a blessing.

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