In 2005 I compiled a manual for the hevra kadisha (sacred burial fellowship) that I had recently organized at Park Slope Jewish Center in Brooklyn, NY. Ten years later, this resource has guided sacred fellowship development in many varied communities beyond Brooklyn. A recent article by Seth Wikas in the Forward describes how even the coexistence of Jews, Christians and Muslims in Egypt has been supported by our manual:

Anya Ulinich / The Forward

"Have you ever prepared a Jewish body for burial?”.... With that call I became [head of] Cairo’s chevra kadisha, after quickly Googling “chevra kadisha” and finding the Park Slope Jewish Center’s guide. (...)       READ MORE

Burying the dead is one of the core rabbinic priorities in cities of diversity, "for these are ways of peace." Today WAYS OF PEACE continues to create and share vital related resources, including the ones below.

Things That Come Back To Life (Tablet Magazine)

“What is your position on zombies?”

It’s not something I’m usually asked as a rabbi, especially in the middle of a meal. Adam was approaching bar mitzvah at the time, and his parents had invited me to stay for dinner after one of our study sessions.

‘Tis the season for discussions of how kosher it is for Jews to celebrate Halloween. But the fascination with “the undead” isn’t limited by the calendar; it’s ongoing, particularly for young people, and it provides opportunities for dialogue between generations on issues that go beyond costumes and candy. (...) READ MORE

And When I Die: The Musical! — A Funeral Planning Cabaret

Tuesday, October 27th at 7:30 pm / FREE AND OPEN TO ALL
Park Slope Food Coop, 782 Union Street, Brooklyn, NY

Hesitating over end-of-life decisions? You’re not alone—but don’t die wondering! Learn about advance directives, funeral consumer choices and your next steps at this unique seminar-in-song. Ample time for Q&A and follow-up resources provided. The only requirement is the willingness to accept that you will not live forever in your current form.

WAYS OF PEACE donates at least 10 percent of net staff compensation forward to other organizations that uphold our core mandates of promoting justice and kindness across lines of diversity.

Tablet Magazine, 6/12/15

A large manila envelope lies on my desk. Marked “To Be Opened in the Event of My Death,” it contains the most recent version of my ethical will and related documents.

Ethical wills have a long and honored history in Jewish tradition, dating back millennia to the requests of biblical figures like Jacob and Moses. While a legal will deals with matters of tangible personal property, an ethical will, sometimes called a legacy letter, is a statement of intangibles: the experiences, values, hopes and related instructions that we leave for our survivors.

But some intangibles—like human equality and reverence for life—need to be expressed in practical terms. My papers in the manila envelope are arranged in the order my survivors will need to see them. My simple burial instructions are on top, along with confirmation of enrollment in my state registry as an organ and tissue donor. (...)

The myth that Jews shouldn't offer gifts of the body after death needs to be laid to rest. There are lives at stake. READ MORE

Tablet Magazine 1/23/15

“Bury him a burial,” commands the Biblical passage at the center of our Jewish funeral imperatives — asserting that even the corpse of an executed criminal is worthy of respect. By traditional extension, all our Jewish dead are given the honor of levayah, which literally means “accompanying” to the grave.  Full levayah includes active participation in burial, which carries two protections against desecration: one of the human body (adam), the other of the earth (adamah). (...)

When we accept the loving, wrenching imperative of returning bodies to the earth — adam to adamah — our own bodies help us move from sorrow to consolation. There are vital lessons to be found at the end of a shovel. READ MORE

True stories of accompanying and return: an elderly family matriarch, a middle-aged rock star, my own father, a gravedigger's father, and a young man who lost his battle with drug addiction — but not the love of his survivors

"May all our work be for the blessing of the future of Israel, and of humanity."

70 years ago, toward the end of 1944, the first woman ever to be ordained rabbi perished in Auschwitz at the age of 42. As a chaplain and educator, she had offered inspiration and solace to many, especially the elderly. Throughout Nazi Germany and in the Theresienstadt concentration camp, she had worked tirelessly to affirm human dignity at the end of life. 

Rabbi Regina Jonas at the Jewish Senior Home in Rosenberg, Germany (1936)

And for nearly half a century afterward, her legacy was almost entirely forgotten.

I was named for my immigrant great-grandmother Regina Sandler z"l (of blessed memory).  During the summer of 1978, in a book by Rabbi Sally Priesand — the first Jewish woman ordained in the U.S. — I discovered a few brief paragraphs about Rabbi Regina Jonas z"l.  

Across continents and generations, here was a foremother with whom I shared not only my first name, but also my chaplaincy concerns and rabbinical aspirations.  It seemed bashert (Yiddish for "meant to be").

In May 1999 — the same month that an international conference honored Rabbi Jonas in her native Berlin — I invoked her at my own ordination in New York.   I spoke about two Reginas, both of whose legacies I bore, and in whose name I stood.

Today, WAYS OF PEACE Community Resources honors the chaplaincy and education legacy of Rabbi Regina Jonas z"l in all of our services and programs. We foster the dialogue between generations that is essential for learning the lessons of history.
 

During this Festival of Lights, please light one candle for Rabbi Regina Jonas z"l — and consider a year-end  donation to WAYS OF PEACE.

Hanukkah means "Re/Dedication." May we rededicate ourselves through our celebrations to seek justice, pursue peace, and turn toward each other with greater kindness — now, while we're alive and free; now, while we still remember.

Rabbi Regina Sandler-Phillips, MSW, MPH
for WAYS OF PEACE