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Chevra Kadisha Conference Workshops - as of 6-8-03 |
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| Taharah | Cemetery/burial | Funeral | After Death/Mourning | Bikkur Holim | |
| 1 Sunday 2:45 - 4:00 | Jewish Views of the Afterlife in Our Death Practices | Reconciling Cemetery Rules, Civil law and Halacha | Non-Profit Ownership of Jewish Funeral Homes | Understanding Why We Recite Psalms During Shmira | Understanding Death Care Needs of Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/ and Transgendered Jews |
| How does our tradition speak about life after death? Connecting rituals before, during, and after taharah with their kabbalistic origins. | How do we, or do we, set aside special areas for cremations and intermarried's. How do we reconcile cemetery rules for liners and other issues with halachic tradition | Community or synagogue ownership- what are the advantages and disadvantages and how does this compare to for-profit ownership. | It is Jewish custom to recite tehillim during shmirah. What psalms in particular may be useful? Readings in Hebrew and English. | From hospital care through mourning, LGBT families may experience conflict. Issues such as parental denial of relationship, power of attorney and legal contracts for medical purposes; transgender taharah; and same-sex mourners. | |
| Dr. Simcha Paull Raphael | R. Len Zucker, Sheldon Grosberg | Rena Boroditsky, Richard Berger, Michael Goldstein | R. Natan Fenner | R. Linda Holtzman, Lisa Kodmur, Alan Armus | |
| introduced by: R. Jack Riemer | moderator: David Zinner | moderator: R. Mel Glazer | introduced by: Alison Jordan | moderator: Lynn Greenhough | |
| 2
Sunday 4:15 - 5 30 |
The Tachlis of Taharah | Practical Concerns in a Jewish Cemetery | Preserving Tradition and Gaining Economy: Traditional Practice at a Reasonable Price | Traumatic Grief: Understanding Unexpected Loss | Using Psalms to Enhance Bikkur Holim |
| This workshop will examine how we do rechitza, (physical washing), taharah, (spiritual purification) and halbasha, (dressing the met/ah in tachrichim). | What are the nuts and bolts decisions that cemetery managers and volunteer Chevra members face. What is the halachah for metzevot; earth covered kever or cement; how have cemetery styles changed; mechanical lowering devices or ropes? | Bidding, negotiating and publicizing a local contract. Roundtable. | Sudden losses require special sensitivity, intervention, and support. The differences between these kinds of traumatic losses and those that follow prolonged illnesses will be explored. | Many of us recite psalms as part of our funeral practices. How can we include these texts to facilitate the effectiveness of our work with Bikkur Holim. | |
| Lynn Greenhough | Al Benoliel, Jeff Davidson, David Kaler | Bob Hausman | R. Simkha Weintraub | R. Natan Fenner | |
| moderator: R. Linda Holtzman | moderator: R. Mel Glazer | moderator: David Zinner | introduced by: Carol Hausman | introduced by: Alison Jordan | |
| 3 Monday 10:45 - Noon | Taharah Practices and Training: Educating the Chaverim in Our Chevra Kadisha | Women's Yiddish Prayers and Ceremonies for Cemeteries | Exploring the Economics of Funeral Homes | Communal Responses to Mourning | Bikkur Holim: Learning From the Text |
| What training systems do different communities have in place. What are the problems we have encountered in our Chevra Kadisha and what resolutions can we share? | Weissler explored tkhines in her ground breaking book Voices of the Matriarchs. One of the rituals she discovered was kneytlakh legn, laying of the wicks, a 1000 year tradition of measuring the circumference of grave sites. | How can the values of a traditional Chevra (such as simplicity and affordability) influence policies and pricing? How can a traditional Chevra maintain a good working relationship with a funeral home? | Shmira after 9/l1, which continued until the last body part was removed from the site. Grief and Growing is a healing retreat for the bereaved. How do we increase participation in our communities? | Traditional Jewish texts provide the background to our understanding of this mitzvah. | |
| Libby Bottero, Elyse Rabinowitz, Leonard Shwartz | Chava Weissler | Andy Fier, Ed Sagel, Jules Polonetsky, David Jacobson | R. Eric Weiss, Armin Osgood | R. Joseph Ozarowski | |
| moderator: Linda Rishe | introduced by: Lynn Greenhough | moderator: David Zinner | moderator: Rena Boroditsky | Introduced by: R. Jack Riemer | |
| 4 Monday 1:45 - 3:00 | Helping Your Chaverim Understand Their Emotions After Taharah | Cemetery Management, Maintenance and Rescue Strategies | Music and Funerals: Cantorial Selections | Ethical Wills - a Participatory Workshop | Maavor Yabok (17th century) and Sefer HaHayiim (18th century): Understanding the Foundations of Our Death Practices. |
| Many Chevra members will need to decompress after taharah. How can we set up systems to help enable Chevra member mutual support? | How do we create management systems to insure cemetery survival? How have groups come together to save older cemeteries? | A selection of songs in Hebrew, Yiddish, and English, appropriate for funerals. (mixed singing) | Ethical wills date back to Yakov. For thousands of years they have guided generations of Jews with their simplicity and their shared values. | These texts provide the basis and meaning for Jewish death ritual practices and meaning. R. Moss is interested in continuing this workshop after the conference with an on-line study group. | |
| R. Mel Glazer | Jane Salk, Irwin Lapping | Cantors Ronit Rubin and Jan Morrison | R. Jack Riemer | R. Steven Moss | |
| introduced by: Carren Oler | moderator: Rena Boroditsky | moderator: David Zinner | introduced by: R. Linda Holtzman | introduced by: Lynn Greenhough | |
| 5 Tuesday 9:45 - 11:00 | Educating the Jewish Community About Tahara | The Halachah of Re-burials | The How's and Why's of Shiva | Nichum Avelim: How to Comfort the Mourner While Arranging Funeral Logistics | Viddui: Death Bed Confessional |
| Do we share our knowledge about the dignity and validity of these traditions in our communities? Can we include young people? What are effective community educational strategies? | Re-burying in Israel, moving within a cemetery or from one cemetery to another . What is the halachah? | How do we re-introduce the etiquette of shiva in communities that have lost their understanding of what it means? | Examples of how the Chevra Kadisha can assist mourning families with planning funeral and burial arrangements. | Many Jews have no idea we have a prayer of penitence recited before death. The Viddui is a deeply meaningful, similar to prayers we recite Yom Kippur, and is an essential part of our deathbed liturgy. | |
| Carol Cunradi, Bruce Bloom, David Jacobson | R. Breitowitz | Anne Brener | Jeff Davidson | Alison Jordan, R. Eric Weiss | |
| moderator: Carren Oler | Introduced by: David Zinner | introduced by: Lynn Greenhough | moderator: R. Linda Holtzman | moderator: Rena Boroditsky | |