Chevra Kadisha News - Published by Kavod v'Nichum

Adar I 5763 - February 2003 - 500 subscribers

The early rate of $200 for the Chevra Kadisha Conference is good for six more weeks, until March 31. After that date registration increases to $275. For information on workshops, speakers, hotels and on-line registration and payment for the June 22-24 conference, go to the web site at www.Jewish-funerals.org/conference.htm. Please pass this information on to others who might be interested. We're looking forward to seeing you. 

“The melody of their lives were broken…May the abode of all creation, grant consolation to all who mourn, comfort to all the bereaved.” Space Shuttle Columbia Astronauts’ Memorial Service – February 4, 2003 (audio - minute 10-16) Rabbi Capt. Harold Robinson, US Navy.

New on the Jewish Funerals Burial and Mourning web site:

• 14 articles on Intermarriage and Non-Jewish Burial. See also "A Matter of  Grave Concern: A Question of Mixed Burial" Rabbi Ben Zion Bergman, approved by the Committee of Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS), January 30, 1991. Published in "Responsa 1991-2000" The Rabbinical Assembly, p.418- 425

• 13 articles, sites and resources on green burials

• Eight yahrzeit articles and four date calculators

• Ten stories about the origins of the custom of putting stones on graves when visiting the cemetery

• Moed Katan - Point by Point Summary of Death and Mourning Discussion

• Rabbi Harold Kravitz drash on Vayechi using Responsa in Wartime

Halacha on the web…

• It is forbidden to derive any profit [benefit, financial or personal] from the dead body. Chapter 197 - Kitzer Shulchan Aruch from Avodah Zarah 29b.

• Ritual Purity: Avoiding Contact with the Dead - The Cohen-Levi Family Heritage

• The Donation of Bodies to Medical Schools - The Masorti Movement in Israel

• Transplants and The Sanctity of Life and The Laws of Mourning Relating to Mass Disasters and WTC from Books on Contemporary Halacha and Science by Rabbi David Shure

David Zinner, Kavod v’Nichum Executive Director, delivered the drash at the Park Slope Jewish Center synagogue on the topic of Understanding HaMakom Yenechem – Bob Marley, Capt. Harold Robinson, Zayin Adar, and Creation.

Sacred Undertaking: Chevra Kadisha and the Renewal of Caring Jewish Communities took place on Sunday February 9th in Downtown Manhattan in NYC. 

Photos on the web...

• Polin Burial Society

• People of a Thousand Towns: The Online Catalog of Photographs of Jewish Life in Prewar Eastern Europe from the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research contains 15,000 images. Here are a few samples.

The funeral procession of Malke Asch, mother of Yiddish writer Shalom Asch. (Inscribed on the cloth covering the casket is the traditional phrase for a funeral: "Charity delivers from death.") – 1930’s - Kutno

View of a burial procession for pogrom victims: a crowd of people carrying aloft a coffin (r) and shroud-wrapped corpses fill a street; (back) others stand on porches of wooden houses. (Yiddish caption) "Protect the living and don't shame the martyrs."March 1919 - Bershad 

Members of the `khevre kedishe' (community burial society) in conversation outdoors. c. 1930's -  Kolo 

Members of the `khevre-kadishe' (burial society) posing along a wall of the cemetery.  1930's – Orla - Duksin, D. 

Articles on the web...

• Learning from Landfill – Is Fresh Kills going to be another 9/11 memorial

• The Atlanta Journal Constitution published two articles on Shrouding Jan 11, 2003. Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, African and Asian cultural traditions were explored

• The Reform Jewish Nurses Network will give nurses in the Reform Movement the opportunity to connect with one another for spiritual, educational and ethical support.

The May 23, 2002 Duke University Conference Magnified and Sanctified was videotaped – and the videos are finished. For more information or contact Conference Services - (919) 660-1765 or Confserv@informer.duke.edu. These videos are excellent programs for your Chevra Kadisha or congregational education workshops.

Mining the Jewish Tradition for Its Healing Wisdom - May 15-18, 2003 in Scottsdale, Arizona

The 23rd International Conference on Jewish Genealogy will be held in Washington DC from July 20-25, 2003.

CAJE 28 - August 17-21, 2003, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

Models of Cooperation: Reflections on the Jewish Healing Movement - October 26-28, 2003 - San Francisco

We're building a database of Chevra Kadisha groups so we can reach you. We are asking every Chevra Kadisha to write us an e-mail or complete the contact form on our website. If any reader knows of a Chevra Kadisha, help us get in touch with them.  If you'd like to do a survey of Chevra Kadisha groups in your area, let us know that too. We appreciate any assistance.

How do you honor, thank and educate your Chevra Kadisha members? Consider a dinner, traditionally held on the anniversary of the death of Moses – the 7th of Adar. In 2003 you have a second chance - February 9th was in the first Adar and March 11 is in the second Adar. Let us know about your plans and successes.

Does your Chevra Kadisha make charitable contributions? Kavod v'Nichum needs your financial support to continue to provide you services. Contributions of any size are welcome. Make your check out to Kavod v'Nichum and send it to 8112 Sea Water Path, Columbia, MD  20145 or call David Zinner at 410-799-8070 or e-mail to donate@jewish-funerals.org for more information. On-line credit card donations are also gladly accepted.