“Just as there is a Jewish way of life, there is a Jewish way of death.” When a loved one dies, we feel sadness and grief. Every religion and/or culture has customs and practices when it comes to dealing with death and mourning of our loved ones. The Jewish people have several which will be discussed in detail. Russian Jews also follow the same customs with slight adjustments. From the time of death until the burial, the deceased is never left alone as a sign of respect. This period of time
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“Faith isn't a feeling. It’s a choice to trust God even when the road ahead seems uncertain” -Dave Willis The struggle of leaving God behind come into the minds and hearts of prisoners during the Holocaust. In Night by Elie Wiesel, a young boy, Elie, finds himself in the exact situation when Elie and his father are separated from the rest of the family and put in the concentration camps. There, they are treated like animals, the cruel treatment is excruciating and hard to handle, but Elie makes
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Have you ever seen a person endure so much that they lose their faith entirely? Well, in Elie Wiesel's book Night, he explains what he went through that caused him to question everything about their religion. Even while everybody around him was still praying and studying their religion he didn’t know how to believe anymore. In the beginning of the book Ellie describes how he wanted to study and teach the Kabbalah as his profession. On page 4 he tells us how his dad didn’t want him to study the Kabbalah
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questions regarding the existence of God. A being of pure melancholy, Akiba Drumer eventually fails the selection and requests that Elie and others say Kaddish, the Jewish ritual prayer for the dead, for him. Elie writes, “There followed terrible days. We received more blows than food. The work was crushing. And three days after he left, we forgot to say Kaddish” (77). Clearly, loss is not only encompasses physical being, but it encompasses faith-related and mental objects as well. When they forget to speak
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were said over his tomb, No candle lit in his memory” (Wiesel, pg 112). In the Jewish religion, saying a prayer or saying “kaddish” is very important because it helps the “soul” reach Heaven. When Elie does not say “kaddish”, he is admitting that God is not real and has no faith in him. How it shows that Elie has lost all faith is because he does not believe that saying “kaddish” will do anything for his father and therefore, believes that God is not real. Elie starts off as a strong, religious, and
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from desecration, willful or not, until burial. El Malei Rachamin - A funeral prayer used by the Ashkenazi Jewish community. Hasped - This word has direct physical meaning of "enclosed with a hasp" as thus used in Garth's 'Dispensary'. Kaddish - Hymm of praises to God found in the Jewish prayer service. Central theme is the magnification and sanctification of God's name. Kever - The custom of visiting the graveside of parents or close relatives and praying there. ( grave of the fathers)
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Elie begins to lose his hope: “Everybody around us was weeping. Someone began to recite Kaddish, the prayer for the dead. I don’t know whether, during the history of the Jewish people, men have ever before recited Kaddish for themselves. For the first time, I felt anger rising within me. Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What
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TO OUR FRIENDS NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE BAR MITZVAH Bar Mitzvah is an expression that means “subject to the commandments,” meaning that an individual is old enough to take personal responsibility for fulfilling and celebrating the laws of the Torah. This traditionally occurs in his 13th year. By reading from the Torah, saying the blessing for the reading, and by helping to lead the service, the Bar Mitzvah will show he has acquired the knowledge and skill to accept this responsibility and
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Joshua Nkwocha Mr. Jensen Period 6 23 January 2009 A Shameful Blemish On the Face Of Humanity Around the time of the Great Depression, 1939 to 1945, Jewish people in the entire western world, especially in Germany, Poland, and Romania, were tormented and were helpless victims of hatred. Although anti-Semitism was already present at this time, the Holocaust greatly amplified this form of racism. Holocaust is the act of genocide by fire. Elie Wiesel is a survivor who provides living testimony
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When did WWII officially begin ? -It began on September 1,939 When did Germany invade Poland ? -The invasion started on September 1, 1939 & ended on September 6, 1939 Why did Germany want a world war? -They offered Austria-Hungary unconditional support, and must have known that all the other powers would get involved . How many concentration camps did Germany have? How many were death camps? -They had 23 camps. They had What were the ghettos
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