Chesed shel emet: The truest act of kindness – Reviving Judaism’s “holy society”

By  Cindy Mindell ~

A ewer used during the tahara – purification and preparation of the body for burial

BRIDGEPORT – Among the cornerstones of a traditional Jewish community is caring for the dead. Considered the highest mitzvah one can perform – because the beneficiary cannot express thanks or reciprocate – preparing a body for burial has historically been the purview of the “chevra kadisha,” Aramaic for “holy society.”

Specially trained volunteers administer the halachic prescription for preparing a body after death: “tahara,” purification through ritual cleansing; wrapping the body in “tachrichim,” a simple white burial garment; and “shmira,” watching and praying over the body until it is buried in the ground – either directly or in a plain wood coffin, so that the body returns to dust.

Like many halachic requirements adapted and transformed over time by liberal Jewish denominations, chevra kadisha has been evolving in the U.S. for at least 100 years.

“In Europe, every community had its own chevra kadisha, and as Jews immigrated to this country and started communities, they established cemeteries and chevrot kadisha,” says Rabbi Yechezkel Schlingenbaum of the Chevra Kadisha of New Haven. “But my impression is that, as members of the chevra kadisha became older and passed away, the younger generation of Jews was not interested in getting involved.”

And so, starting in the 1940s, many non-Orthodox American Jewish congregations let go of the chevra kadisha, Schlingenbaum says, handing over funeral arrangements to funeral directors, some of whom were not knowledgeable in halachic Jewish burial practices. But over the last 30 or 40 years, Reform and Conservative Jewish congregations have begun to reclaim the mitzvah.

Schlingenbaum, who first became involved in chevra kadisha in the late ‘60s as a Queens yeshiva student, helped revive the communal burial society in New Haven a decade later. He says that the development of the group mirrors the phenomenon in many Jewish communities, its presence evolving from a communal organization to a synagogue-based one and back.

When Schlingenbaum arrived in New Haven, only the Young Israel congregation maintained a chevra kadisha. Together with Prof. Sidney Leiman of the Yale Judaic Studies department, Schlingenbaum, Rabbi David Avigdor of Bikur Cholim Sheveth Achim Synagogue, and others helped revive the Chevra Kadisha of New Haven. Schlingenbaum wrote a guide with the help of Rabbi Elchanan Zohn of the National Association of Chevra Kadisha, who was teaching at a yeshiva high school in New Haven at the time. (Zohn is still considered by many in the Orthodox community to be the “go-to” source of halachic wisdom for funeral and burial requirements.)

Why do Jews observe “kavod ha-met,” respect for the dead? “If I’m interacting with somebody alive and breathing, I should treat that individual in a dignified manner, but if I have a lifeless body in front of me that serves no purpose, why demonstrate respect?” says Schlingenbaum. There are two reasons.

For one, while alive, a person performed various mitzvot, for which he or she will be rewarded in the next world and it is impossible to do a good deed without the use of one’s physical body.

Secondly, the Torah teaches that human beings were created in the image of God, a reference primarily to the soul, the essence of every person. “Neshama” is related to “neshima,” breath; the Torah says that God breathed the soul into Adam, which brought him to life. “Being that, for our entire existence in this physical world, the body contains this soul that is a reflection and image of God, we attain a very high level of sanctity even if the neshama isn’t in the body, which is enough of a reason to show respect for the body,” Schlingenbaum says. “When the body dies, the neshama still feels a connection to it and stays near it until the burial, when it returns to God.” Through the soul, the deceased is still aware of how the body is being treated, Schlingenbaum says. Mistreatment causes the individual pain; respectful treatment brings a sense of satisfaction.

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