"To Die, To Sleep... But To Wake Eternally..."

We die.

 

I don't mean to startle you in introducing the topic of the next several classes, but the truth is, no matter who you are, or when it happens, death is a shocking experience for us all.  We hear about it on the news every day, and we are brought up understanding that our time is finite here on earth, but it is irrelevant when we are confronted by it ourselves.  It could be a stillborn child, or a woman of a hundred years, yet at the point of any death we still are amazed and dismayed at the notion that this phenomenon exists. 

 

What is it about this phenomenon which has us baffled and confused?  Perhaps because it is something of which we have no control in our lives which scares us, or perhaps it is the mystery of 'when' which gives us great pause to reconsider each day.  Maybe it is simply the actual expereince of death despite the rational mind, which comprehends its eventuality; the bottom line is that we are more shocked at death than we are at the phenomenon of life.

 

Our Rabbis, interestingly enough, stated: "Against your will you are born, against your will you die," and what you do in the interim is up to you.  What affects us most in that equation is the latter half-we die against our will.  Why are we not as bothered by the miracle of life, at being thrust into this world without being asked? 

 

The answer is simple; we take it for granted.  We accept the idea of birth and life the same way we nonchalantly accept air, orbit, gravity, and weather.  It is only when the 'system' fails us that we ask, pray and wonder at God's 'game plan.'  Ask a couple who have been trying for years to bring a child into the world and they will respond differently to our prioritizing question.  Ask a mother who loses her only son in the army and she will teach us about the preciousness of a moment spent with a loved one.

 

"Against your will you are born, against your will you die." Both life and death are traumatic and miraculous phenomena, but while we acknowledge this, we begin our discussion on the latter half of the equation - death.

 

No doubt our Jewish religion is life affirming - 've-chai bahem' (you shall live your days) - yet, there is an element in literature and lore which deals with death as a very real phenomenon.  On it, King David writes, as well as Maimonides in his compendium of Jewish law.

 

As a young person, I have had very little contact with death.  Only recently, when my uncle and my grandfather passed away, did I begin to contemplate my fears of, and my interest in, death in our world. 

 

Now, as a Rabbi in an aging Jewish community, however, I come in to contact with death and mourning quite frequently.  I had read the law that when you are standing by and you witness the 'taking of the soul,' you must tear 'kriya' - rend a garment.  Only now did I actually find myself participating in the activity, as I watched an ailing grandmother fade away.

 

"...She was so full of life...she was full of excitement..." Unfortunately, new to the community, I am unable to share the memories of life and love with their family.  I come often at the end, when there is much of the latter but scant of the former.

 

It seems appropriate for me to devote some time to delving into the many psalms which revolve around this all-encompassing topic.

 

Perhaps we shall learn that King David sees the phenomenon of death as another element in the never-ending quest towards understanding God and serving Him with all his heart.

 

Our goal, as with our approach to Tehillim in general, is to comprehend the beauty of the author's words regarding this solemn subject, as well as to search for what death means to us in our day and age.

 

But first, a poem...

 

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

2    Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

3    For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,

4    Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

5    From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

6    Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,

7    And soonest our best men with thee do go,

8    Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.

9    Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

10   And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;

11   And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well

12   And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?

13   One short sleep past, we wake eternally,

14. And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

(John Donne,Sonnet 14)

 

John Donne, the famous metaphysical poet and theologian, introduces our segment on death in the Psalms.  In this poem he brings death to life by personifying the experience.  As if conducting a debate with death, Donne challenges the notion that it is the final arbiter in our lives.  It is, instead, a slave to fate and the whims of man.  He paints a dreary picture of death, similar to the popularized grim reaper figure, as it dwells "with poison, war, and sickness" (ln.10).

 

But it is at the end of his poem that he injects the religious aspect to it, almost as an afterthought.  For religious individuals (of which Donne was certainly one), line 13 is the key. 

One short sleep past, we wake eternally,

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die

 

Our 'waking eternally' - the afterworld - refers to a fundamental belief in many religions, without which death might indeed reserve the right to "swell."  We acknowledge that our end on earth is part of an ongoing journey our souls traverse.  While the initial charges brought against death persuades it not to feel pride, only the knowledge of death as simply 'another stage in our lives' warrants the prophecy - 'death, thou shalt die.'

 

It is only through the recognition of a fundamental tenet of religion, that death is not the end, but rather part of a journey, which enables us to approach this topic (and any personal loss) with measured understanding. 

 

"Rabbi Jacob stated, this world is compared to a corridor before the world to come; prepare yourself in the corridor so that you may enter the chamber."

 

This statement is meant not only to offer us solace about our hidden future, but also to provide meaning and encouragement about our living our lives to the fullest-  a microcosm of a Jewish outlook on life. 

 

How does Psalms approach the topic of death?  Ignore?  Extol?  Or with a balanced approach interwoven with faith in God?  This question will begin to unravel in the coming weeks, as we enter the depths of 'death in Psalms'...