Posts from the ‘Death’ category

Mourning, consolation and meditations on the journey home.

Removing Life Support

A difficult prayer for a difficult moment. In classic Jewish tradition, this prayer includes a request for forgiveness from the one who is near death by…

Read article

I Want to Die on the Trail

This is a prayer fantasy envisioning my death. G-d willing, it will be some time from now. I’m not ill, but of the age to begin…

Read article

Hero of Ukraine

This prayer-poem for the people of Ukraine incorporates a quote from Ukrainian poet and artist Taras Shevchenko, writing from St. Petersburg Citadel Prison in May, 1847,…

Read article

Ministers of Earthly Blessings

Angels are first mentioned in the Talmud in Masechet Brachot 4b. Quoting a Tosefta, we learn the number of flights an angel needs to get from…

Read article

One-by-One: A Prayer as the COVID Death Toll Mounts

The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 is approaching 100,000, as the world-wide death toll surpasses 350,000. This prayer was written at the request of the Central…

Read article

Mourner’s Lament

A short meditation about the daily shifts that mourners may experience on the journey to healing, based on my own experiences of mourning. I wrote it…

Read article

For Rabbi Peter Knobel, z”l

Rabbi Peter Knobel z”l has died after suffering a massive heart attack almost two weeks ago. A gadol b’dor, a giant of this generation, a tzaddik,…

Read article

Taharot in Pittsburgh

As the Jewish world mourns the murders at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, a group of private individuals are preparing themselves to perform taharot. Taharah…

Read article

Yizkor after a Suicide

My family doesn’t know the full circumstances of my wife Ami’s z”l death, but it was probably suicide. This is another prayer about suicide, following the…

Read article

Tender End of Life Vidui

A confessional prayer at the end of life, from This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. Here are more memorial and yizkor prayers, including meditations…

Read article