Mourn

The Transmigrating Soul. Jewish Reincarnation. Jewish Life After Death. Jewish Afterlife and Eschatology. Jewish View on Next Life. Jewish Ideas and Beliefs

Though the survival of the soul after death is hinted at in the Hebrew Bible, it became an explicit doctrine only in the early centuries of the Common Era.

Amending prayers that mention resurrection to accord with modern sensibilities.

By the second century at the latest, belief in resurrection had entered Jewish liturgy and legal writing.

The misguided belief that one needs all body parts intact to be resurrected may contribute to the poor rate of organ donation--even for Jews with otherwise untraditional beliefs.

Rebutting objections to forming or joining a burial society--and practical steps on how to do so.

On attending to mourners, anticipating dying, accepting death, and appropriate burial rites.

Sometimes there is a conflict between the mandate to save lives and the mandate to avoid health risks.

Jewish views on organ donation are overridden by a single halakhic (legal) concept: pikuach nefesh—the Jewish obligation to save lives.

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

Though traditional sources on the laws of mourning are quite detailed and specific, an acquaintance with this legal literature reveals a number of overarching themes and principles.

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