Death, Dying & Funerals

2020

Rabbi Scot shares his experience and knowledge from a Jewish perspective, of having done many funerals and Memorial services. As Rev. Kathleen points out, some of the Jewish traditions and practices might also be adapted by interfaith ministers to apply to non-Jewish funerals as well. Rabbi Scott described much of the detailed preparations he makes in dealing with the family and Loved ones of the departed.

Click here to watch–>  https://youtu.be/vW4qRA4Zb5g

Deferring to Mitchell’s greater knowledge of his own credentials and background, Jon let Mitch introduce himself, highlighting those aspects of his career and history as a healer, counselor, seeker, and interviewer that seemed most relevant to the topic at hand. For the first 7 minutes we got a glimpse of his humor and background, and shared some of our own. Then Mitch launched into a comprehensive exploration of the subject of death, the experience of mourning and the types of reactions and beliefs people have about death and dying–from culture to culture, within our own society, from person to person, and from one death’s set of individual circumstances to another as different types of death evoke different feelings and reactions as well.

Always keeping it lighthearted, the discussion was enlivening, and never morbid or depressing, and of course, the subject of reincarnation was explored as well, as well as what lives on when the body dies.

During the break, while the camcorder was turned off, I shared the rather miraculous story of the last days of my maternal grandfather’s life. I had wanted to tell it to Mitchell to see whether he’d want to incorporate it into the second half of his talk, but afterwards, everyone agreed that it was worth sharing as I had told it. Luckily the webcam was still running, recording the whole class, so this segment is a clip edited out from the live-stream footage, and therefore it is not up to the same video quality as the rest of the class segments.  Nevertheless, the story speaks for itself and tells the strange tale of how my grandfather, in his last days on Earth, had kind of clairvoyant prophesy of the future, although from hisperspective he had already died, and he was just asking about how things turned out after some of the events he foresaw.

Jon shares his practical and experiential wisdom about performing services for those grieving over the loss of a family member or friend. He also discusses how these can be “Celebrations of a Life,” and not necessarily a dreary and depressing affair. With humorous and informal examples from his own experience, he brings the topic comfortably within reach, and adds reflections on his own many years of ministry in general as well.