I often thought about the importance of "seeing," but there were things I was afraid I would see if I looked too deeply, and things I was even afraid to think about. I was like a child afraid to find herself alone in a house at night because of what might surface from the Other Side, the name I gave to the source of all circumstances beyond my control.
I was inspired to become an observant Jew because I experienced the possibility of a world which acknowledged the mysteries of life and death, and I found people who tried to live their everyday lives with that awareness. I discovered a tradition thousands of years old which not only encouraged me to open my eyes but depended on my functioning in the fullness of my vision.
I once complained to my older sister that I didn't feel I "existed," and she replied that motherhood, with its constant demands, had brought her down to earth and a sense of her own existence. When I decided to live as a religious Jew, I began to feel the palpable sensation of "existing" in my very bones. The Jewishness I grew up with was largely a realm of ethical imperatives and ideas. The Jewishness I have come to know is a world of action where whatever insights I have earned came to me by way of keeping Shabbat, by practicing the Jewish dietary laws of kashrut, by saying the Hebrew liturgy and my own words of prayer and thanksgiving.
My experience of reclaiming my heritage is not uncommon; there are many of us who returned to our Jewish tradition after exploring a myriad of spiritual paths, including Christianity and Eastern religions. What is perhaps unusual about the route I took was my involvement in an aspect of Jewish observance which the newcomer rarely experiences. Shortly after I moved to Denver's Orthodox community, I was asked to participate in a taharah, the Jewish way of preparing the dead for burial.
Taharahs require a great deal of compassion because the dead in their hands are entirely helpless.
Traditionally, a Jewish Burial Society counted as its members the most prominent individuals in the community. These Jews were honored to have the opportunity to carry out the commandment of taharah -- the cleaning and bathing of the dead -- dressing the body in shrouds, and resting it in the coffin, with prayers woven throughout the process.
Taharah is a service unique in the fact that the recipient of the kindness is unable to give thanks or repay the favor. Those who perform taharahs are entrusted with a task that requires a great deal of compassion because the dead in their hands are entirely helpless.
In Denver, I belonged to the small circle of women who performed taharahs when they were requested. We were recruited out of sheer necessity because of the dwindling number of older, experienced women who were able to perform taharahs.
I was totally unprepared for my first taharah, but I didn't have a chance to worry. Barely an hour elapsed between my decision to go along as an observer and my arrival at the funeral home.
I realized the moment that I stepped inside that all my ideas about death had been affected by its image in popular culture and the scores of horror films I had seen as a child. I could almost hear the chilling musical accompaniment as I descended into the basement of the mortuary.
I wanted to turn around and run.
I wanted to turn around and run, but I focused on the faces of the three women who had come with me. Their tenderness and total lack of self-consciousness returned me to a world of Jewishness and the sense of serving, of doing what needs to be done without being overwhelmed by its enormity.
During that first taharah, I stood aside from the actual preparation of the body, its cleansing and dressing in shrouds. I was handed the box containing the shrouds, and I spent most of the time ripping out the machine stitches every few inches. By Jewish law, the shrouds are supposed to be sewn by hand so that they can more easily disintegrate, and I was trying to remedy this discrepancy by loosening the seams. This simple task helped to anchor me.
I held the cloth and felt the power of tradition -- the chain of generations who had been laid to rest in shrouds exactly like these. The garments were spanking clean, ironed, and folded. My mind filled with associations of sewing my own clothes and ripping stitches. I remembered dressing myself that morning and seeing my own body clothed. I began to envision my body itself as a kind of clothing. I thought of my hands that were now carefully working with the cloth, how these hands are part of the clothing of my soul.
I witnessed with my own eyes how the soul had departed, leaving the body an empty shell.
My conception of the neshamah, the soul changed radically after my first taharah, when I actually sensed the existence of the soul independent of the body. I observed how the body houses the soul but is in no way identical with the soul. At the taharah, I witnessed with my own eyes how the soul had departed, leaving the body an empty shell.
Though I've become familiar with the procedure and the surroundings, I still feel at each taharah that I am being forced to awaken, that I am jolted out of my limited perspective so that my everyday concerns take on their proper proportions. As I pour the buckets of water over the body and say the Hebrew words asking that the soul be purified and freed from its attachments on earth, I also experience a degree of release from the stranglehold of my needs and desires.
However, the effort which I exert in a taharah is not directed towards understanding its meanings – which I can only guess at -- but rather towards carefully executing each one of its prescribed steps. By doing the taharah to the best of my ability and with my full concentration, I am fulfilling a commandment which may carry me far beyond the rewards of intellectual comprehension. In my attentiveness to every action of the taharah, I submit myself to an Intelligence infinitely greater than my own.
I always feel tremendously comforted by the nearness of the two women who work with me. We seem to move as one, and it even feels, at times, as if we are sharing one mind. As we light the candles, spread the sheets, and carry buckets of water, we are creating a web of intimacy and comfort around the dead woman. It may only be my imagination, but the taut atmosphere of struggle which pervades the room when we arrive gradually relaxes as the taharah proceeds.
After one taharah, Sari, who had recently given birth, pointed out the similarity between the newborn and the dead, both so totally dependent on our kindness. The dead, like infants, have been divested of whatever personal or professional identity they earned in their lifetimes. With its purifying waters and white shrouds, the taharah carries this process further so that the soul, restored to its essence, can proceed on its journey.
Two weeks after I performed my first taharah, I was married, and I was privileged to encounter another piece of the Jewish experience. An individual is always accompanied by other Jews during every rite of passage. Standing under the marriage canopy, the chuppah, surrounded by the faces of my family and the community, I felt the strength of their prayers and blessings. As I circled my husband seven times, I sensed the totality of the commitment I was making. I had been told that the chuppah would literally transform me on a cellular level, and I believe that I experienced the transformation. How the chuppah prepares the soul so that it can unite with another soul, and how the taharah helps to heal the soul and release it from this world — can I ever know the depths of these mysteries? What I do know is how it feels when some of the veils fall away, and the soul feels itself more fully alive.
This article originally appeared in Our Lives: An Anthology of Jewish Women's Writing, edited by Sarah Shapiro.
(18) Jseven, May 10, 2014 6:02 PM
Article
My father died yesterday, thank you for this article its helpful
(17) Carrie, January 6, 2009 7:22 PM
Somewhat envious
I am doing some research for a novel I am writing, when I stumbled upon your article. As a Christian, it is settled 'to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." Yes. However, what a comfort the Jewish community has, at least those who continue the tradition of your article, to know the kindness and respect of which the dead are cared. Some day, I suppose I will be in the hands of those who don't know me to prepare me for burial. I am somewhat envious of the comfort of this tradition. May the Lord bless you.
(16) Sura, January 8, 2007 11:50 PM
Touching Closure
Thank you for sensing the delicate manner in which a person's body must be respectfully treated, even after death. This must be a very meritorious mitzva.
I know of a neighbor who infertile for many years. A Rebbe told her to do chesed via Taharas as a Sgula to merit children. She did so and has a nice family and even a grandchild, now.
My Mother. A"H was recently niftar and when the ladies came to the hospital, they were so unbelievably sensitive that I thank Hashem for their presense. They calmed me down without saying a word and allowed me to understand that even in death we are cared about. They floated in just when they were needed and they had a connection to me, though I had never seen them before. They let me know that everything would be taken care of for my mother as I would need it to be.
I could tell that the hospital personnel were impressed with their righteous, serene demeanor and the swiftness with which they came.
Thank you, ladies who do this fine chesed.
The author did not go into detail, thankfully, and her description was tasteful and comforting. I envision buckets of purifying water enveloping the body which housed a soul pure and good. It may not be understood, but it seems proper.
(15) Anne Weil, January 6, 2007 7:41 PM
A Must Read !!!
And this is why.................:0)
" Their tenderness and total lack of self-consciousness returned me to a world of Jewishness and the sense of serving, of doing what needs to be done without being overwhelmed by its enormity"
Both Varda Branfman's inspiring book "I Remembered in the Night Your Name"and this article from which the above quote is taken allowed me to experience this same same transition. Varda's work permeates with tenderness, openness and with a strong purpose to serve others. It is like finding in the wilderness that a beautiful country road suddenly becomes accessible. It increases our understanding and helps us overcome the overwhelming feelings that are often so much part of the struggle to live as more observant Jews. Most of all , it helps understand how to strengthen our relationship with Hashem Varda Branfman extends a welcoming hand to us. I think her work is a "" must read" especially for all bal tashevahs Thank you for this.
-------------------------------[[
(14) susan holaday, January 3, 2007 8:58 AM
taharah
this article was meaningful to me as my long-time companion/partner died suddenly this summer. A generally secular Jew, he had told me at the time of his father's death that he wanted someone to sit with his body and pray after his death. I requested this of the funeral home and felt happy to have honored his wishes - we were pretty unobservant in terms of keeping rituals or attending services but led a spiritual life in that we tried to help the community in which we lived and the business community we worked with as well.
Death is so final and chilling that this ritual is comforting in the way it creates a transition from life as we have known it to another realm.
(13) marc, January 1, 2007 6:25 PM
wonderful peace
Thank you so much for this wonderful article. It gives me great comfort to know that my mother was so well cared for as she was prepared for her burial. I cry when I read this imagining her tenderly bathed and dressed. Thank you for this!!
(12) Anonymous, August 19, 2006 12:00 AM
Varda Branfman and Tahara
Thank you Varda Branfman for themoving piece that you wrote aboutserving in your first Tahara.My mother had her tahara yesterdaymorning and your article gave megreat comfort and joy. You enabledme to understand exactly what herbody experienced and gave me peace.I know that she was lovingly caredfor.
(11) terry keck, December 22, 2001 12:00 AM
I loved the way it is written
Make one think about love, death, healing and what a long strange trip it's been
(10) Laura Borel, December 21, 2001 12:00 AM
Tahara's article gave me light...
Last year, when my grandma died, my mother did not know how she would be dressed... she died in the hospital, in Mexico City... atmosphere was awfull and sadness was around... suddenly my mother had an inspiration, I bet it came from God, and she told the nurses to just wrap the grandma with a white cloth... she came to me to ask my advice... at that moment, the atmosphere changed...
It is a shame that coming from a Jewish background, my family had lost so much from the Tradition and meaning of what Taharah really means...
A few days ago, talking to my sister in law, we had compared the "helping the death to trespass" as a giving birth...
This article is glorious...
God bless you
(9) , December 20, 2001 12:00 AM
From Tuesdays with Morrie
"The culture doesn't encourage you to think about such things until you're about to die. We're so wrapped up with egotistical things, career, family, having enough money, meeting the mortgage, getting a new car, fixing the radiator when it breaks - we're involved in trillions of little acts just to keep us going. So we don't get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying. Is this all? Is this all I want? Is something missing?" - From Tuesdays with Morrie
(8) Anonymous, December 18, 2001 12:00 AM
A lyrical presentation of an important subject
Varda Branfman's lyrical writing has illuminated an aspect of Jewish observance of which many readers may be unaware. When my parents, may they rest in peace, died, my greatest consolation was that I was able to obtain for them a proper Jewish tahara and burial. This is a final service that every Jew can offer his or her loved ones.
(7) margie eisenberg, December 17, 2001 12:00 AM
beautifully written
I too "decided" to become more observant by keeping Shabbat, following the laws of kashrut, and prayer....lots of prayer!...there is so much tenderness and dignity in the Jewish way of life as well, as you have so aptly expressed, in death. Thank you.
(6) vivien fox, December 17, 2001 12:00 AM
I was moved to tears as you described your thoughts and feelings .Thank you for sharing such intimate ideas with us.I admire you so much for the work that you do.
(5) Linda Grefe, December 17, 2001 12:00 AM
A beautifully expressed article! Thank you!
Your comments at the beginning of the article, are so true of us being raised in a media pervasive world. The images of death we are indoctrinated with are so frightening that they only serve to make death the "enemy" and io disallow us the comfort of seeing Hashem as the loving Father in an inevitable journey home. The experience you have been privileged to have will serve you in many ways. Thank you for sharing.
(4) Anonymous, December 17, 2001 12:00 AM
Sensitively Written, Beautiful Article
I also belong to the local Chevra Kadisha. Prior to joining, I suffered from anxiety and panic attacks, and I was concerned that they would impede me from doing this mitzvah of chessed shel emet. I learned something of Hashem's kindness, when I prayed with my whole heart to be able to hold it together in the presence of the deceased, and my tefilla was granted. I've been blessed not to have them since joining the Chevra, several years ago. In addition, when I look at the Great Truth, I see how foolish are our petty dislikes and jealousies. Baruch Hashem, we are alive and well, we need to bless G-d and not focus on who hurt our feelings. When I attend a tahara, I imagine how I want the women to handle my lifeless body, and I am consoled that at the end, a Jew is attended by G-d - fearing ba'alei chessed.
(3) Deinya Mautz, December 17, 2001 12:00 AM
Changes After the Taharah
A universal comment from the women with whom I share this task, and also the men when discussing their experience, is that somehow, in some indescribable way, the very countanance of the deceased has changed. No matter what the cirmunstances that may have befallen her, the woman's face is changed somehow, as if finally she is indeed released and can begin the final step of her journey. Thank you for writing of this work. It is so important and so life-changing. Performing a tahara always leaves me with a sense of peace even in difficult circumstances. How much more difficult this task becomes when life has been snuffed out by senseless violence. I pray my sisters in Israel are continuously given blessings and stregnth.
(2) Ruth Novice, December 17, 2001 12:00 AM
Very interesting
This article is the first I have seen on a person's reaction on her first tahara, with so many positive and spiritual experiences. We, like the author's community, are a small group who frequently need to recruit women to work with us at taharas, and many are influenced, like the author, by the prevailing culture. Thank you very much for publishing this article.
(1) marlyn cheng, December 16, 2001 12:00 AM
not that bad after all
and i do see people die , when my mother pass away i could not bear to see them take away the artificial life support system which i knew were totally useless; you have given be a light that i will always remember; thank you