End of Life

Hastening Death vs. Letting Death Come: A Reform View

When it's acceptable to use a "living will" to end treatment of terminally ill patients

Euthanasia: A Jewish View

Traditional rabbinic authorities forbid instigating the death of a terminally ill patient.

Proximity and Repair

Even if we are unable to fully fix what's broken, we can begin to make a difference by stepping forward.

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: Some Biblical and Rabbinic Sources

The Torah prohibits murder, and the Talmud maintains the prohibition on active killing, even with the terminally ill.

Some Modern Views on Euthanasia

Contemporary Jewish thinkers have expressed a wide range of opinions about the permissibility and parameters of euthanasia.

Soloveitchik on Aninut

During aninut, the phase between death and burial, the despairing mourner is freed of ritual obligations.

Death as Estrangement

Mourning customs reflect the depersonalization and distance from God experienced by the mourner who has just confronted the death of a close relative.

Ultra-Orthodoxy and Organ Donation

After learning the results of an experiment involving a decapitated sheep, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach decided to permit organ donations.

The Deaths Of Two Hasidic Masters

These stories are passed on as teachings about how to die.

Spiritual Preparation for Death

Hasidic lessons on facing end of life.